


Childhood Memories

by solarpillar (solarwind)



Category: Pokemon
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-21
Updated: 2011-11-03
Packaged: 2017-10-24 20:32:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 40,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/267599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/solarwind/pseuds/solarpillar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Brendan returns to Johto for a summer trip with Ethan and Silver. Troubles find them again not matter how hard they try to ignore them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue and Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to moon_blitz at Livejournal for the beta!

Part 0 - Prologue

The Quiet Cave was noisy that night.  
A human, a male juvenile human, had entered the cave.  
A tourist, a gengar guessed. They love to come here to walk their Pokémon friends. Usually they only bring one. This one is no different.  
Is he Buddhist? I asked.  
The gengar thought about it for a while. No, should be Arceuist. Could be Taoist too.  
Good, I said, still holding a grudge against Buddhists.

I waited in the cave for the noises to end. It only came closer.  
He came with a Pokémon with fire for mane.  
The boy, with both hands, lifted me to eye level.  
His eyes were shining gold in the fire light.  
Lips moving, as if reciting a spell, he gave me a name.

 

Childhood Memories

Part 1  
When Brendan opened his eyes, the coastline was already visible. He changed into his trainer clothes with haste and walked out from his cabin with two of his skitty following him. One of them had darker hue than ordinary skitty. The VS seeker of trainers flickered on and off in the hallway like candles in the wind. He answered some of these calls, but did not stray from his path. So far, no one had defeated his team on this boat. The veteran trainers on the deck might, but they never answered any challenge on this trip. One of them was making doodles of mew.

On the horizon was the coastline of Goldenrod City. During the day, it wasn't golden in the literal sense and goldenrod flowers only bloomed in shops and inside few people's house. However, during nighttime, when all the artificial lights were shining like thousand clusters of stars, you could almost mistake it for a bouquet of goldenrod.

Right now, in front of Brendan's eyes, the city withered into white and grey as the day broke. The port was in sight. A line of people waited at the port, some of them holding cardboard with names on them. Some were already yelling towards the approaching boat.

As the ship docked, one of them called Brendan's name. It was a familiar voice. A young man's voice, warm and full of affection. Brendan called back: "Ethan!" and waved at his childhood friend. His skitty waved their tails from each side of their human's shoulders, filling the air with crisp sounds of tiny bells.

Brendan jumped down from the boat, took a deep breath, then promptly coughed.  
"Are you alright?" Ethan, who came to fetch him, asked worriedly.  
"I'm fine! I'm fine! I'm just not used to the air anymore." Brendan replied as he called the felines back to their Poké Balls, "The air at Hoenn was really great, but here, in the city... urg. And people complained about how bad the air was bad in Hoenn cities. They should come here and take a breath."  
"We have wind turbines in coastal cities now. The air will progressively get better." Ethan informed as they got on the taxi.  
"Yes, hopefully next time I come here it'll smell like the average Hoenn city, minus the smell of the sea if it's not coastal."  
"And volcano ash. I can't believe you guys just walked without any protection in the areas where ash fell like snow on top of Mt. Silver. The same ash you used to make glass. It can't be good for you. You guys must have glass in your lungs now."  
"Noaw, it's not that bad. Here's the flute set you wanted before I forget."  
"Excellent!"  
"The blue one is to wake up the Pokémon, the yellow to snap out of confusion, the red to snap out of infatuation, the white to increase encounter and black to decrease encounter."  
"Why is the red one for getting Pokémon out of infatuation, not causing it?" Ethan, asked, playing with the flutes.  
"Who knows? I guess you can try to play the note in reverse or just ditch luvdisc at them to make them fall in love."  
"Luvdisc shuriken?" Ethan smirked.  
"Sounds good to me. Teach them Steel Wing or something." Living through hardship together was a great way to bonding, so why not an attack of Steel Wing spamming luvdiscs? Running away from angry Pokémon together had definitely helped him and May's relationship. Hell yeah. While double appeal in a double contest as a team was cute and fun, nothing spelt 'romantic' more than running away from a Hyper Beam-happy Rayquaza, hand in hand, an escape rope in the free arm and plusle and minun on their back. He was proud of his plusle's Light Screen. May's minun's Thunder Wave and Copycat helped a lot as well. It would not be a lie to say that his main motivation for challenging the Ever Grande League was to be able to punch Wallace in the face for sending him after Rayquaza, at least not after that particular event. Who told him that it was a good idea to send some ten year-old children to wake some ancient, legendary dragon? They nearly became Rayquaza breakfast. Good thing that they survived, Hoenn was safe and May grew closer to him. And Steven Stone now held him in high regards. Great consolation prizes.  
Ethan had to wipe away tears from laughing too hard. He understood his feeling, because the local Champion, Lance, did the same thing with Lyra and Red Gyarados while Ethan helped distracting the other gyarados in the lake. Good old times. "So, where's that girlfriend of yours now?"  
"What girlfriend?"  
"May. Didn't you two get along pretty well? Unless I'm talking about Steven."  
"Psssh. May said she had to help her father study more Pokémon, so she's not coming this time. Steven is not my girlfriend for two obvious reasons and he still doesn't want to come out of caves. He'll end up married to a stone, I'm telling you. That was why Wallace had to replace him as Champion in the first place."  
Ethan chuckled. "Sounds like you had fun."  
"Hoenn is fun. You should come visit my houses."  
"Let me guess, one on tree top, one on a colony of corsola, one near Shoal Cave, one by a lakeside and one in the volcanic ash area, just so you could monopolise the ash falling on that spot."  
"Those are secret bases, not houses. The first one is the one with my mom in it, in Littleroot Town. The second is my dad's, in Petalburg. The third is the one I bought in Slateport, near where May wants to open a gym."  
"Already getting ready for marriage I see."  
"It's still a great city if I can't get married."  
"Close to port too."  
"Yeah."  
"So you can just come back to Johto when things go sour?"

Brendan didn't answer. They both knew that Brendan had trouble with family. Then again, many trainers had. One parent out in the wild, another stay in town to raise their kid. Brendan's lucky that at least he had seen his dad and they actually moved to the region where his dad worked and they visited each other. Ethan never saw his dad, or if he did he could not remember. His older brother, who was three years his senior, never came home after his trainer's leave either. He hoped they were still alive.

Brendan handed Ethan some lava cookies. They spent the rest of the trip in silence.

 

When they finally arrived, a young man with flowing red hair was waiting at the door. He was dripping wet, his shirt and pants were torn and his fishing boots were missing a chunk. There was burning marks on his exposed skin, not to mention the regular bruises and scratches, and few teeth marks. Still, he held his head high, not letting his temporary misery to get the better of him. Indeed this made him look more like a warrior than a loser, albeit still a pretty miserable one.  
"Silver! What are you doing outside? Don't you have the key?" Ethan shouted, jumping out of the car. "And how did you get hurt that badly?"  
"A gyarados swallowed it and I couldn't find which one it was as the pond was full of them." Sou explained, his voice bitter and trembling from cold, "And this is...?"  
"I'm Brendan, nice to meet you," he said as he shook Sou's hand.  
"I'm Sou, but Ethan here nicknamed me Silver from my eye colour. Nice to meet you."  
"Sou?" Then Brendan made a mistake. "Ah! You are Ethan's boyfriend! D-"  
Brendan realised his mistake a bit too late as Sou's face darkened, but at least he managed to not make it worse by shutting up just in time before asking about their marriage plans. Ethan looked like if he wanted to dig up a hole and hide in it. He even got the steelix ready. Just the decision now.  
"Ahem." Sou cleared his throat. Ethan dropped his ball. Brendan reached for Gardevoir. Teleport could be useful.  
"Ahem." Sou tried again. Brendan dropped his ball too, along with the belt and the bag attached to the belt. Ethan's ball rolled under the taxi and the taxi's AI helpfully asked if the human wanted it moved so he could get the ball.  
"Ah-hem." Ethan was banging his head against the car, and its AI asked if he wanted the car moved or wanted a cushion to reduce the impact, please specify.  
"Actually," Sou proposed, "that never happened. Let's get inside. I'm hungry."  
And Sou helped moving the luggage in, despite Ethan's protests.

Once the boxes are bags were inside, the taxi paid and gone, they started to guess which box or bag contained what. May doodled on the boxes according to what were inside, but the hints were far from obvious. For example, a double circle linked to another double circle was supposed to be for headgears. Dozens of vaguely round shapes in different colours were berries. Green and brown zigzagging strokes were tea. And so on. They laughed at the silly doodles and how Brendan was still proud of May's doodles despite how bad they were. “It’s not bad! It’s just abstract-expressionism!” As prize for guessing the content of the boxes, Brendan handed out snacks and tea, right or wrong. They boiled water and started a small tea party. They were delicious.

To Sou's misfortune, their chat over tea rapidly evolved into a passionate discussion about berries and mail sets between Brendan and Ethan, which Sou failed to understand more than berries were edible and mails were to be sent between people.  
"Oh!" Ethan exclaimed as he run up to his room and came back with a colorfully wrapped box. "I almost forgot, belated happy birthday, Brendan!"  
Brendan responded by giving Ethan an equally sparkly box. "And early happy birthday to you, dear."  
Sou was only confused when he saw the excitement over berries, now he was tempted to grab his food and hide upstairs.  
"OhmyArceuslook at this! Harbor mail! Only purchasable in Slateport City!" Ethan screamed, spazzing.  
"This Lovely Mail is filling my heart with love!" Brendan exclaimed, dreamy.  
"Glitter Mail! Look at the pretty stars! Look at this pikachu!" Ethan said to himself, no longer screaming but now rolling on the carpet.  
"Oh. Great. Rayquaza." Brendan pulled out a mail so colourful Sou could swear it was some LGBT pride mail, "This is the Mosaic Mail. The Mail not sold anywhere. How did you even get it? I totally love you foreversldkjaigewng!"

Sou grabbed enough edibles and ran. In case it was supernatural and contagious, he placed a cleanse tag on his room door, just to be sure. You could never be too careful in this unsure world.

When Sou came back downstairs next morning, Ethan and Brendan were sleeping waist-deep in a sea of Pokémon plushies and cushions. And empty plates, bottles, bags and other food packaging. The TV was still on. Several piles of DVDs and cassettes were in front of it, so Sou presumed they had a movie marathon. Sou's fine with all that. What bothered him was that breakfast was not ready. Not that he minded to be the one doing the work, but he preferred when it was Ethan cooking. When Ethan cooked the breakfast would be a whole meal, like chansey omelette, nanab crepes with honey and tea. When Sou made breakfast, he could only bake toast and apply jam. He tried making omelette once. The frying pan's bottom fell off. The egg was carbonised. Maybe accelerating the process with houndoom's hellfire wasn't a good idea...

Carefully, Sou walked over the sleeping boys into the kitchen and started to boil water. Water was not something that burns easily. Then washed some magost berries. He was not sure if he should just eat something and leave or stay to help. Sure the house would need some cleaning? It was Saturday anyway. He tiptoed to the living room again and collected the dishes and bottles. They did not have a dishwasher, so in the sink they went. Then back to living room again to collect the junk. In a separate bag rather than the normal trash bag, just in case they want to keep them as souvenirs. And back to kitchen...

Calling magneton for help might be a good idea. Sou's Pokémon were upstairs. Again, Sou walked over the guest, then Ethan...

And something caught his leg.

Sou tried his best to not let out a scream. Not just because it was unmanly, but because it would wake up Ethan. Not that he wanted to let Ethan have more sleep because he cared, but because a sleep-deprived Ethan was scary. Ok, maybe because he cared too. Just a little bit. Now, the thing that caught his leg. It was a pink paw, soft and fluffy with sharp claws hard enough to harm a rhyhorn. Attached to a pink feline Pokémon, one that Sou thought was a plush at first. It looked at Sou, silent, its crescent eyes screaming 'trickster'.

Sou whispered as low as humanly possible to the Pokémon "Now, please don't make a sound, I'm trying to n-"  
"Me~ow~!" The Pokémon cried as loud as felinely possible. It was almost a Roar.  
"What? What? Who's trying to bully my Kiki?" Brendan woke up at once. He half-walked half-crawled across the room, nearly brought down poetic justice by falling over the cat. Instead, he landed right next to the pink blob and the Pokémon, giggling, tapped its trainer's head with its tail, producing soft and clear sounds of Heal Bell. The melody was of an ancient song, of ancestor of humans and Pokémon, back when they ate at the same table and no differences distinguished the two. It was a song that chased away sleep and inspired vigor.

Ethan, of course, got woken up.

It was not the first time the cat Pokémon pulled something like this, so the problem was solved quickly. Because they were too lazy to explain what the Pokémon was to Sou, Ethan pulled out his old 'dex and pointed at the feline. The National Pokédex identified the pink cat as skitty, an adorable Pokémon that chases its own tail. It could copy moves of its friends or cure status problems by producing bell-like sounds. When annoyed, it might wake up someone with painful slaps on the face.

"Sounds like a tsundere." Ethan commented as he closed the Pokédex. "It's like a Pokémon version of Silver!" He said, faking the pitch of a schoolgirl.  
"Hey!" Sou roared.  
"Well, which one haven't you done already?" Ethan ask, keeping the pseudo-girl voice.  
"Chasing after my own tail?" He growled, face gaining a shade of pink.  
"You did spin around in attempt to see the back of your new haircut, like, uh,” dropping the fake voice, “once or twice?" Ethan grinned. Sou was adorable when blushing.  
"Fine!"

They had magost ice tea, yogurt crepes and eggs mimosa for brunch, skipping the breakfast and possibly lunch. As they drank their after meal tea, Brendan and Ethan discussed their plan for summer. Brendan's boat for Hoenn was scheduled for the same day of next month, at Vermillion City's port. That would be August 16th. The plan was to stay for three weeks in Johto, then take the train to Kanto and spend the final week there. In detail, landing in Goldenrod, go to Ethan's house on route 34, go back to Goldenrod with Ethan to have fun, watch yanma swarm on route 35, compete in Bug Catching Contest, visit Ecruteak, go west to Olivine, then surf to Whirlpool Islands to see the legendary Lugia, surf further west to Safari Zone, fly north to Battle Frontier Access, then ride back to Olivine to take the S.S. Aqua to Vermillion, Kanto. If all the tickets got sold out or they miss it, they can fly back to Goldenrod and have more fun there before taking the magnet train to Saffron.

"Wait, 'we'? Ethan's going too?" Sou asked, confused and slightly outraged. Ethan hadn't told him about this and he's not sure if they have a replacement breeder. Ethan wasn't going making him run the Daycare alone, not even with the breeder's birthday as excuse. Sou would not have any of it.  
"Silver, what are you talking about?" Ethan laughed, clinging onto Sou like a gardevoir. "You are coming with us too, that's my birthday gift."  
"First stop," Brendan declared before dashing out of the house, "back to Goldenrod and shop till the wallet dies!"

Goldenrod was one of the biggest city in Johto with a human population of 126 thousand. It was a metropolis that extended itself rapidly over the years, both above and below ground. The Goldenrod Tunnel, initially a simply pathway between the southwestern and northwestern areas of the city, was today an entire underground city, complete with many shops and bazaars, housing areas and photo booths.

Oh boy there were photo booths. When Ethan was ten there was only one at the north end, where trainers could dress up with their Pokémon and take pictures. Now there were 35 of them. All of them offered clothes, accessories and props for both human and Pokémon. Most of them were themed and doubled as clothing stores. The first they came across offered the 'authentic experience of dressing like in an Unova Musical' with top hats, canes, smiley faces and etc. The second was plant-themed. There was even a Team Rocket themed one near the Goldenrod Department Store, apparently to celebrate how a ten year-old girl freed the city from them. Brendan insisted to buy a Team Rocket uniform as souvenir. After all, there were so many people wearing it already.

The regular fashion stores were of course not spared. Even Sou and Ethan had to buy something, thanks to peer pressure from Brendan.

In the flower shops Ethan bought some mulch for the berry plants he was going to have. He stored them in the next PC they saw.

They also bought many travel supplies, first aid supplies, TMs and Pokémon plushes from the department store. On the city surface, they ate lunch in a cozy restaurant with incomprehensible paintings on the walls. They bought sweets from the biggest candy shop in the city and shopped for more clothes, hats, belts and shoes. And some ties. Not because they want to wear them, but for reference and emergency.

Then they went back into the tunnel, checked out the salons and had some of their Pokémon groomed.

Inside the Tunnel, there was also a section reserved for movies, animations, comics and games. And one infamous doujinshi shop. Even though Ethan regularly browsed the section for movies and games, he had never went to that particular shop because of various rumours he had heard. For your sanity, he remembered Lyra say, never go in there.

"Just because one person told you so, you never checked it yourself?" said Brendan. "Sou, had you gone in there before? Is it really as crazy as she said?"  
"I haven't gone in there either," Sou lied.  
"Then let's go in," said Brendan with a smile.

Sou wanted to run. Brendan grabbed him by the collar and dragged him back in.

Lyra was right. It was filled with picture books with '18+' on their cover, which by itself was not so bad, but the problem was that over half of them bore familiar faces.  
"Oh sweet Arceus, that's Lyra there." Ethan said in horror.  
"Who's that person with her?" Brendan asked.  
"Morty." Sou answered for Ethan.  
"Cute balloon Pokémon he has." Brendan noted, completely ignoring Lyra's degree of undress. "His scarf's pretty cool too. I want one."

Under further pressure from Brendan, the group advanced deeper into the shop. The books there no longer had females in various degrees of skin exposure on their cover, only blocky males and males that looked like females until you looked down.

"Hey, isn't that you two?" Brendan said as he picked a book from the shelf. Its title read: 'Rule 34 of Route 34: Love at Daycare Centre' and lower 'Sou&Ethan ANTHOLOGY' with a '18+' tag on its top right corner. It contained various stories by various authors and in all of these stories, Sou and Ethan were, well, mating. In the end notes the editor talked about a Sou&Ethan only event in the Goldenrod Conference Centre basement and the possibility of a future one in Indigo Conference Centre.  
"All these years," Ethan sighed, "right under my nose, they were shipping me and Sou?"  
"I'm surprised that you know the term 'shipping'," Sou remarked. "But you totally should've known when the girls were giggling whenever we stood in the same room."  
"I thought they were laughing at your hair!"  
"Then why would they run away whenever we had physical contact in front of them?"  
Silence.  
A whole minute passed. Brendan was pretending to be background scenery, checking the shelves out all by himself. He even put some books into his shopping basket. They featured a man with hair the colour of steel.

Sou and Ethan finally came into a decision. They put the anthology, as well as several books with Sou&Ethan stories not collected in the anthology, into their basket. On their way out, they picked other Ethan or Sou doujinshi too. They narrowly avoided stepping on a golden vulpix's tails, which was reading doujinshi by the 'Team Rocket only!' shelves. It held an item by its neck, some kind of scarf or handkerchief, marking it as a Pokémon with an owner. It looked at Ethan as he passed by, eyes widened in recognition. Ethan, however, did not recognise it. He caught his redhead friend by the sleeves and they walked to the counter, almost hand in hand. The redhead declared "It's for research." as he paid for the fanbooks. He did not had a mere proud air, more a pride that lived and screamed from the marrow of his bones. The red of his hair was not mere orange-red or brown-red, but deep red, richer than cinnarbar. Ethan called him Silver. Indeed, he had silvery gray irises, cold yet warm in its own way.

"The son of Giovanni had red hair..." the vulpix repeated to himself, in vulpine, the description of Giovanni's heir.

When the trio left the shop, the fox Pokémon barely noticed that another boy was part of the group. It followed them outside. The redhead had the kindness to hold the door for it. The heir of Team Rocket, a nice guy? The fox growled in thanks, to which the boy nodded and smiled. Wow. It chased them a bit more and the boy gave it food, gently asking if it was lost and pointed the direction of Pokémon Center. There, your trainer can find you more easily if you stay there. The fox nodded and trotted there, the automatic doors opened at its arrival. The boys waited till the doors closed behind its tails and not on them, meanwhile laughing at the unfortunate yet hilarious event where Ethan's marill got its tail stuck in the doors back in the time when they were converting the doors to automatic.

Once at home, Ethan and Sou opened their laptop and poured the doujinshi next to it. Brendan, sensible to his look and body odour, ran straight to the shower.

Twenty minutes later, Brendan came out from the shower. The laptop now had a full page of text on it. Ethan was still typing. Sou was drawing something. An instant camera sat on the table next to a pile of photos. The one on top was of Ethan's arms bound to a bed with a tie.

"...may I ask what are you two doing?"  
"We're writing a clarification page for our website," said Ethan without moving his eyes away from the screen.  
"Better tell them what we find acceptable than to have them guess and miss horribly," added Sou. He seriously needed brain bleach.

Few more minutes later, Ethan fed the photos and sketches to the scanner, dragged them into the text and published the page. It was a really detailed page. It was perfectly polite and all, and even thanked the readers for support. For a moment Brendan wondered if it was their coming out confession. In a way, it was.

Ethan didn't cook that night. They had to eat microwaved frozen food. When they were done and the dishes cleaned, Ethan and Sou went to their respective room and told Brendan to use the guest room. After the good nights were said and lights were off, when everyone should be asleep, Brendan heard two doors open and some indistinguishable whispers, followed by sounds of footsteps that went from one room to the other, then stopped with the crackling and shuffling sounds of weights shifting on a bed. And there were gentle murmurs coming from that room for many minutes into the night. Brendan could not make out any of the words.

In the morning, Brendan was woken by the sounds of birds crowing. He considered eating one of the pidgeys for breakfast, but stopped himself. Annoying pre-civilisation instincts. He was about to get downstairs when doors opened behind him. Strange. Sou was coming out from Ethan's room and vice versa. He didn't dare to ask what happened. Instead, he offered to make the breakfast.

They went downstairs and took out three chansey eggs, as well as some vegetables, sausages and herbs. Brendan made omelettes out of them while Sou made hot cocoa and iced tea. Ethan fetched the mail and newspapers from outside and was sorting them out.

Brendan was a bit scared. For a moment he wondered if he was still dreaming in the Lilycove-Goldenrod ferry and that soon he would wake up and meet the real Ethan and Sou. From Brendan's memories, Ethan was a masochistically cheerful person as long as the subject of his family was not brought up. Or that he didn't sleep well, but that didn't happen often. Indeed he was that cheerful and full of laughter on the first day, and yesterday he was fine as well, but for the rest he was a bit... subdued? Maybe the shock from doujinshi shop was more severe then he thought. But Lyra and Brendan had done worse pranks to Ethan and he had never held grudge for longer than a minute, again as long as it was not about his family. He prayed that Ethan was just tired. That boy certainly did not need another berserk button. He was scary in berserk mode.

And there was Sou. From what Lyra and Ethan told him, Sou was a much more fiery person. He started very violent and bad tempered, then somehow became more tame and gentle, finally settled to be a mixture of cool, gentle and elegant. But so far Sou's being mostly... also subdued, especially after the doujinshi event.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Ethan suddenly called his name.  
"What is it?" He asked, making sure that he didn't burn their breakfast or something.  
"There are some letters for you." Ethan told him.  
Oh.

After the meal, Brendan suggested a change of plan: first head to Ilex Forest to pray to Celebi's shrine, then Azalea for a quick gym challenge and getting some special Poké Balls, finally fly back to Goldenrod for gym and fly north for Ecruteak. The other two accepted. They raced to the shrine, with Brendan winning by sliding to the base and nearly got himself stuck under.

They left some berry cakes as offerings and prayed for safety. When they turned their back to it they felt something passing by. The offerings were gone when they looked again. For the rest of the trip to Azalea Town, they joked about how it could be any other Pokémon and made up the most improbable stories of how the offerings vanished. They were at Palkia and its Spacial Rend when they arrived in town.

Ethan and Sou seemed to have cheered up. Brendan left them in the apricorn forest to challenge the gym.

"Well, this place does bring up precious shared memories." Ethan said to Sou after Brendan was out of sight.  
"You must be sarcastic, right? The only common memory I have of this place with you in it was when I bullied you into giving me all your money and items."  
"You also asked me what was Lyra's weakness."  
"That's still hardy happy."  
"It was precious, however. Without that memory I would not be able to appreciate the fact that we are together in this little wood without trying to hurt each other."  
"I wonder what kind of upbringing you had."  
"A bad one... Though not so bad when my brother was still there."  
"Oh? You never told me you had one."  
Ethan smiled. It was the kind of sad smile one had when reminded of a bittersweet memory. "Yes, I had a brother. He was three years older than me. He looked a lot like me, but his hair was messier and his eyes were light brown instead of dark blue. He took care of me when mom was busy."  
"But he was only three years older?"  
Ethan laughed. "Three years seemed a lot much older back then, when you were but a child.  
"He was older than me, so of course he was smarter than me. He taught Lyra and I how to make bug traps and how to fish. Because the adults thought letting children using fishhooks was too dangerous, he taught us fishing using firecrackers. Can you believe it? Firecrackers! Then again, now that I remember what it did, I think it was more like a homemade underwater mine.  
"He also taught us how to play various card games and how to cheat. He cheated really well. It was more like magic than anything else to us.  
"When Brendan moved into our town, he threw the most ridiculous welcome party ever. Guess what he did? He fished up a lot of tentacools from the nearby river to use as some wacky lanterns. He then somehow lured gyarados to climb up onto land! The whole town panicked because the gyarados were quite mad that they got stuck on land and they splashed around trying to bite whatever that got too close.  
"After the town's trainers chased the gyarados away, the adults locked my brother up and scolded him for hours. At one point, one of them said something along the line of 'What would your father say' and he got really mad and had to be restrained. The person who said that got dragged away by other townsfolk and our mom locked herself in her room. I didn't understand why all the commotion at the time, but now I know why.  
"I never saw my father. If I did I don't remember. He left my family when I was two, but even before then all he did was to eat and sleep at ours, never stayed long. I could almost remember his voice, but I don't, because, you know, I was so young back then.  
"After my father left my mother never remarried. Whenever I asked her what he was like, she was always silent. Then she would talk about something else, like what we want for supper and stuff.  
"My brother, however, told me many stories of dad. Now that I think back about it, he probably made all of them up, but back then I believed. He told me he was the greatest Pokémon trainer of all times. He told me that he was there when Lugia tore the Whirl Island into pieces and was the one who stopped the giant beast, among other things. Unless he's a time traveller, I don't see how he did it."  
"Then again, we are living next to a time travelling Pokémon." Sou reminded him.  
"Sure. Like he could harness Celebi. Beside, Celebi only travelled to peaceful times. No way it would go to a wartime. Whirl Island was at war at the time, wasn't it? That was why Lugia blasted it to pieces."  
"Right. Where is your brother now again?"  
"Who knows?"

They gave the apricorns to Kurt and waited there. Kurt's granddaughter, Maisy, was playing with a teddiursa and a slowpoke.

Ethan fell asleep on Sou's lap.

Some time later, Ethan woke up from Sou tickling the back of his neck. Brendan was back with the Hive Badge and a Technician ability Scizor.

"Guess what!" Brendan screamed "Bugsy traded this nifty scyther for my beautifly, but it evolved into a scizor when I got it. He said he forgot to take the metal coat before trading. He asked if the speed reduction bothers me, but who cares about speed when it's got more type resistances than you need? And look that red! Beautiful!"  
"What about the quadruple fire weakness?" Sou asked.  
Brendan answered in an instant: "Occa Berry!"

They ate lunch at Kurt's and left around one. Before leaving, Sou and Ethan left a gentle natured sneasel to Maisy.  
"It knows how to carve wood and make ice pops, and anything similar. Hope she'll be good friend with your family and you." They told her as they put the Poké Ball in her hands.

They flew to Goldenrod. It took them less than an hour. At their second visit, there were even more people in Rocket grunt uniform. They suspected revival for a second, then stopped worrying because Whitney, her trainers and the police would take care of it. If not, there must be a ten-year-old coming from a small town who would defeat them. It was a rule of Pokémon world. Brendan dashed to the gym, promising to call Ethan's phone once he was done.

"Where to now?" Ethan asked Sou.  
"Anywhere."

They walked aimlessly down the streets until they were in front of Goldenrod Game Corner.

"Sure brings back memories." Sou commented.  
Ethan agreed.

They were not talking about the same memories. To Sou, Game Corner meant Team Rocket. It meant Pokémon captured and kidnapped to be given out as prize. It meant millions in profit everyday. It meant recruitment of more Rockets, once a gambler went bankrupt and was ready to do anything to survive, namely kidnapping Pokémon and even children. And Giovanni, his father, holding his then tiny hand, gesturing the gamblers and slot machines, telling him: Look, son, that's how we make profit.

To Ethan, it was more about his brother.

Ever since the introduction of Voltorb Flip to the Game Corner, they were less people sleeping on the streets or stealing others' bags in public. In the old days the Game Corner was all about gambling. People bought coins and fed them to the games, be it slot machine, roulette, cards, wheel or pool, and hoped it would multiply in value. Some of them just want the coins so they could get a cute Pokémon, doll, hold item or useful TM. Most of them, however, wished to get rich but multiplying their coins and change them back to dollars.

And there were those won played because they liked winning. More precisely, to challenge oneself and win.

Ethan's brother was one of them.

For a moment, Ethan thought he saw his brother in front of a slot machine, carefully testing its reaction speed. It was just a gambler. There were also days where he thought he saw his brother in a homeless beggar or a finely dressed roulette player. They never were him.

Ethan wasn't sure if he should felt relieved or disappointed.

But there was a happy memory related to Game Corner, shared by Ethan and Sou: Lyra spending hours and hours playing Voltorb Flip, refusing to leave to the point they had drag her away kicking and screaming. Because she would run back as soon as they let her go, they had to get her other games to distract her. She still escaped from time to time with Substitute and Smoke Ball. Fortunately, by the end of the week she was bored of it and returned to the group.

She left it again few months later, when the League called her to replace Lance. The guy disappeared again, they told her, and neither Red nor Green wanted to take the place. The other Elite Four members wanted to keep their positions as well. So Lyra went, high up on Indigo Plateau, defeating challengers and doing paperwork till the day someone replaced her.

Lance was found several days later. He didn't want to return. Thus Lyra stayed Champion.

Her friends would come to her Champion's room for a visit every weekend and on holidays, to chat over a cup of tea or play some games. Sometimes they would even have a pillow fight. The most used strategy was to hold a pillow against someone and hit through it. Totally valid strategy. They didn't hold it against the face though, playing safe.

And when Lyra had a day off, they could go wherever they wanted. One of the place was the Game Corner. They would bet at roulettes or blackjack, or feed coins to slot machines. Most of the times, however, they would be at second floor, playing Voltorb Flip side by side until their fingers hurt. Then they would see who won the most and whoever who did had to buy diner. Then they would turn in the coins for silk scarves and tie them to their Pokémon's neck, if they have one. They never figured out what was the proper thing to do with the many necks of a Pokémon like a doduo or dotrio though. Usually they resort to tying the scarf at the base of their necks, so they won't end up with more scarves just because Arceus or evolution gave them more necks.

Brendan's call snapped the boys back into reality.

They walked north as Brendan bragged about his match and new badge. They stopped when they realised that the also wanted to watch the yanma, which would pass by Route 35 the next day. Should they go to Ecruteak only to double back later? They decided to teleport back to Route 34, Ethan's house, and swore that the next time they leave they would go beyond Goldenrod or they would eat their hats.

It was then that they realised Sou had picked up the habit of wearing hats as well. A cute unisex black hat with a single silver buckle on the side. He refused to comment on it.

"Oh great. Just great." Brendan cursed when they woke up the next morning.

It was raining outside. A lot. From the window, the scenery seemed to be covered by a thin, semi-transparent veil.

The boys waited for it to stop. The clouds looked thin enough.

Several minutes later, the rain intensified. The clouds grew thicker. Thunder and lightning bolts crackled in the sky, painting the grey sky in ephemeral flashes of white.

"It's just summer rain." Sou predicted. "Should be gone soon."

It didn't.

The rainclouds were so thick that it appeared to be night outside. The water wasn't coming down in distinct drops. Heck, it wasn't even pouring buckets. It was more like if a herd of furious gyarados was shooting hydro pump down from the sky. The streets looked like rivers. Potted plants, debris and small Pokémon were being washed away by the rain and blocked the sewer entries. Gusts of winds swept them open from time to time, throwing water and debris up and down. Police and Rangers dashed left and right in attempt to rescue and help, their uniforms dots of fluorescent blue and orange in the heterogeneous grey. The radio broadcasts discouraged civilian attempts to join the rescue.

"Looks we're stuck for the day." Sou remarked. "Do we have something to pass time?"  
"A lot, actually." Ethan confirmed. "I have tons of board games that I used to play with Lyra and other friends when I was younger. And cards for card games. I also have video cassettes with movies in them. And video games. We have surge protectors, so we shouldn't need to fear breaking an electrical equipment."  
"Board games?" Brendan joined the conversation. "I haven't played those in ages! Which ones do you have?"  
"Settlers of Hoenn, Arbok Eaters, Pokémon Trading Card Game: Tycoon Edition, Staves and Aura, Voltorb Flip, Voltorb Checkers, Legend Islands, Mareep and Houndooms, Pokémon Chess: Johto Edition and the rest are downstairs. Oh wait, I also have Voltorb Trouble in my bag."  
"Voltorb Trouble all the way!" Brendan exclaimed. "You agree with me, right, Sou? It's better if we have more players though. Only three of us isn't going to be fun."  
"We could call Lyra and Green to play with us over the phone." Ethan proposed, already holding the phone.  
Brendan argued against. "Are you kidding? They are League staff. That means B-U-S-Y."

Ethan tried anyway. The tower must had been hit by thunder; no service.

"We could each call out a Pokémon to play with us." Sou suggested.  
"We only have five game pieces left. We'll need another piece if we want to do that." Ethan told him.

Indeed, they only have Mudkip, Sneasel, Pikachu, Poliwag and Koffing.

Sou picked Sneasel, Ethan picked Koffing and Brendan picked Mudkip.

"Before we start, let's make it so that we have to land exactly on Goal in order to win, not just walk onto or past it." Brendan suggested, then added: "And the game stops at first winner."  
The other two accepted.  
Suddenly, Brendan had an idea. He added: "And the losers have to accept a truth or dare from the winner!"  
Again, accepted.

Brendan was impossibly lucky as Mudkip. Only the final two Voltorb Trouble had the coin flip landed on Selfdestruct and all the rest was Spark, which was avoided thanks to the piece's special effect. Ethan's piece advanced the quickest, thanks to many successful coin flips. Sou knew he didn't stand a chance, so he spoiled Ethan by supporting him with item cards. Needless to say, Ethan ended up winning.

"Truth or dare, Yuuki-chan?" Ethan asked Brendan in an uncharacteristically evil smile and a sickeningly fake sweet voice.  
"I hate when you call me that, brother. Dare."  
"If you had the h-, no, rather, the lack of heart to attempt to trick me into telling you an embarrassing truth instead of be a man and just ask it in my face, you should at least have the guts to take the punishment like a man. But I'll be kind. In Ecruteak there are five kimono girls who use evolutions of eevee in battle. We need to defeat them if we want to see the legendary Lugia or Ho-oh. I don't like Pokémon battles, so will you please challenge them in our stead?"  
"I thought you didn't like to hold grudges."  
"This is no grudge, this is counter attack."  
"How could it be counter attack if I didn't meant to attack?"  
His eyes made it clear: I've known you since we were little boys, Brendan, you think I wouldn't know if you planned to trick me?  
"Fine, what about Sou?"  
"Silver? Truth or dare?" Ethan turned to Sou with a much less sadistic smile.  
"Truth."  
"Do you love me?"  
"Yes."  
"There you go. Easy, isn't it?"  
Brendan was speechless. At least that answered some questions. Or not.

They spend the rest of the day fooling around, playing games and trying to learn how to cook from Ethan. The food ended up pretty good, even if Brendan and Sou's use of ingredients were a bit unorthodox, thanks to Ethan's interventions.

Brendan couldn't help but to notice that Ethan's Cinnabar Volcano Burger tasted just like his mother's.

They went to sleep early that night. The sound of raindrops were hypnotising.

Then they got woken up. There was a subtle change in the echo of falling rain and worse, loud sounds from near the house that was carefully not made.

A real sound this time. And few more. There was a painful howl and the complex thud-splash of an organic being the size of human adult hitting the wet ground. Then more.

"Eh." Brendan said. He didn't know what else he could say.  
"It's nothing!" Sou's voice responded. "Just some random passersby. Yep, passersby. Nothing to see. Go back to sleep."

The Hoenn boy complied. He couldn't help but suspecting it as some failed attempt at assault, but that's probably him watching too much movies. He also felt that the Sou's voice earlier didn't sound exactly like Sou. It was more like...

Brendan fell asleep before a theory could grow.

The rain stopped some time during the night. The air smelled of petrichor and ozone. The path in front of the door was completely submerged in water. Brendan used it as mirror for a while, groomed his hair and his fluffy hat, and jumped over it. Sou walked back a few steps, ran and jumped over as well. Ethan didn't dare. He paced by the doorsteps, eyed the rain boots that they weren't wearing and ran back into in the house. He came back with a ladder. He laid it down over the drowned path and walked on the ladder. Brendan and Sou, half-joking half-serious, called him a coward. Ethan shrugged it off. Better be a coward then walking around in wet shoes.

They pulled out their bicycles and headed to Route 35, laughing and singing as they rode.

The streets were mostly covered in puddles. Passing cars and bicycles splashed the water everywhere, covering the nearby patches of grass, Pokémon, cyclists and pedestrians in layers of mud. Fortunately for Brendan's group, they let a Pokémon on the head of their bicycle and told it to use protect or light screen. It didn't work all the time. Now and then drops of muddy water still landed on them, making Brendan consider fly instead. Sou and Ethan disagreed: for once the air smelled wonderful, so no way they'll spend hours inhaling the horrible odour of wet feathers.

When they arrived, several bug catchers were already there. Tents of all colours were in the tall and low grasses, some still up and some being folded. Families and friends boiled water and cooked meals on portal stoves, producing pillars of white steam that vanished in the wind. Some children, wearing raincoat and rain boots, were splashing in the puddles.  
"Do you think the yanma left yesterday despite the rain, or will they come today?" Brendan asked Ethan.  
Ethan shrugged. Many bug catchers were thinking the same. Nobody saw the yanma swarm yesterday, but it could be simply that they were flying above the clouds. Still, yanma usually didn't fly so high and unless it was a particularly urgent migration, they would have waited till the rain and storm stopped.

Many trainers were challenging others to pass time. The three boys' VS Seekers would not stop flashing once they arrived. Since it was free experience anyway, the three answered the ones with closest level to themselves, sometimes as tag team and sometimes alone.

Then one challenge caught Sou's eye.

"Excuse me a second. You two have fun." He said to Ethan and Brendan and ran off to the source of the signal.

Ethan and Brendan looked at each other, shrugged and formed a tag team that made many trainers groan in pain. Stop healing and faint already, thought the majority of the challengers. Still, it was a legal strategy and it worked. Most challengers' Pokémon simply fainted from exhaustion. People still challenged them because they believed that they could wipe their team out on the first turn, but boy were they wrong. Ethan and Brendan's Pokémon danced in fire and hail, healing all attacks they couldn't dodge and negated enemy bonus. And they dodged nearly all the time.

It was not like Ethan and Brendan didn't have speed sweepers. But it was such a nice day, so why not let their inner troll out for a walk? Plus it was a perfectly benign and socially acceptable form of trolling.

The defeated trainers agreed that those two must be darkrai in disguise.

On the other side of the route, near the National Park, Sou found the source of the signal. A male veteran, slightly androgynous, with short reddish hair and tall stature.  
"Goodness, Silver! You're still alive?" the man said to Sou.  
"Hey, Kamon. Of course I'm alive. How's things going?"

Kamon was Sou's cousin from the mother's side. He was about three years older than Sou.

"Your father's really mad about the new webpage. He said he wanted to kill your boyfriend for seducing you, kill you for bringing shame to the family and then destroy the world for letting him down before killing himself. Granted, he was drunk when he said all that, but we are pretty sure that we saw him call the assassins."  
"I can't believe your family still let him in." Sou moaned.  
"What else do you want us to do? Let him starve to death?"  
"Make him get a job?"  
"He's a criminal!"  
"He can put a ditto on his face or something?"  
Kamon had to restrain himself from banging his head against the park wall.  
"Hey, I got a new life." Sou added.  
"Well, he's not you."  
"He's my dad."  
"Forget it." Kamon sighed. "What did you do with the assassins?"  
"Gengar ate their memories, I guess." And rolled them in mud, he thought.

The cousins stood in awkward silence for a while. Kamon had buried his face into his hands. Sou tried to whistle, but he never learned to whistle so he just stared at his shoes. Finally the older cousin spoke:  
"Ok. How's it going with your boyfriend? Stable?"  
"Ethan's not my boyfriend."  
"Haha." It was flat enough for an airplane to take off.  
"No, really. We just thought it would be funny to play along. He's Lyra's childhood friend and he's pretty friendly, so I thought I could live with him. And I did. He's a nice guy as long as you don't rub him the wrong way and can cook real good. I-"  
"You like him." There was disgust in Kamon's tone.  
"Yes."  
"Like like him."  
"What do you mean?"  
"Have you slept with him?"  
"Y- I mean no! We're not like that! What makes you think we are like that? Eh? Because of that semi-serious website? Because we sometimes hold hands when walking down the streets? Because we are intimate? Like washing each-other's hair in the bath? Intimate does not have to-"  
"Silver. How do you tell if you're in love?"  
"What?"  
"I said, how do you tell if-"  
"Who? Don't tell me that you're-"  
"I don't know, ok?"

Silence. Again. This time, Sou was the one who broke the ice.  
"So is that why our family's worried that I might, er, settle with a boy?"  
"Nah. They don't know yet. I don't know yet."  
"So who's the one...?"  
"A gambler. No, don't give me that look! I'm not a catamite, ok? He's my age! When I was starting my journey he bumped into me on his skateboard. We met again at times and he called me his rival. His beloved rival, he later called me. I thought he was just being sarcastic or joking at first, but that time, that one time, seven years ago, he pinned me to ground and asked me if I wanted to be with him. I told him I don't understand, what do you mean? He then kissed me, tongue and all, right there and then. We were only twelve! Twelve! I pushed him away, told him that he's not right in the head and he should go fuck himself. He disappeared and the next time I saw him was on the news, that he went Lugia watching with a tourist group and jumped off the boat near Whirl Islands and nobody saw him again. Some of his Pokémon were recovered - his belt was found floating on the surface with half of them on - and they found his hat, his trademark hat, but his body wasn't found. They never saw him again! It was ruled as suicide.  
"Then yesterday, he appeared in front of me, that familiar face and smile, his hair messy, sans hat, in his old clothes, the same ones as when he left, now too small for his grown body, and asked me again: Do you want to be with me now?  
"I grew really scared so I ran, without turning back. When the idea finally reached my mind I regretted it and stopped. I called his name. There was no answer. I looked back, there was no one. I went back to where he was standing, but no one was there. There were footprints alright.  
"Was that his ghost? Did he kill himself because I refused him?  
"Did he want to take me with him, now that he's dead?  
"We were only twelve when that madness happened. But now we're eighteen: the age when I wanted to get married, back when I was a kid.  
"I don't think I want to get married anymore..."

Kamon collapsed in tears. Sou tried to support him, but his cousin was two heads taller than him and at least an inch larger. He held Sou like a child clinging to her teddy bear. It hurt Sou, partly because his cousin was crying, partly because it hurt to be held with so much strength; he felt his spine was going to break. His cousin was howling next to his ears. Lowly, of course, almost like a loud whisper, but howling nonetheless. He'd never seen him in such pain before. There were attachment and sadness in his cries, but most of all, there were guilt and regret. It must be as if he killed his rival himself.

"How did he come back... Why did he come back..."

Slowly, people started to look this way. Soon, Ethan and Brendan noticed as well. Ethan was first to come this way. Brendan followed, confused.

Kamon was startled. He didn't expect others to interact with them. He hid his face with one of his hands and with the other he called Alakazam: "Teleport."

And Kamon was gone, perhaps to his secret base?

Another pair of arms warped around Sou. It was from a body about his size, gentle and reassuring. The body smelled like dish soap, herbs and baby Pokémon, sweat and a special smell that became familiar about three years ago. It smelled like home. Not the house he used to live with his father. Not Kamon’s house when he used to go to eat and chat. It was a home where he could stay for the rest of his life.  
"Ethan." Sou called. It came out like a mash of Thank you and Help.  
"Who was that guy? Family?" There was compassion, but also fire in Ethan's voice.  
"He's my cousin. From my mother's side. I used to eat at his place after I ran away from home."  
"Oh." The fire disappeared from Ethan's voice.

The yanma flew over their head like a red gyarados. It blocked out the sun. Bug catchers lit their pocketlights and threw Poké Balls upwards like a rain falling up, with lightning that flashed whenever a Pokémon was released or caught. The noises of wings buzzing, trainers yelling and Pokémon roaring bashed against ears like fragmented thunder.

Sou stood there, in Ethan's embrace, as if standing in the eye of a storm.

"Ethan."  
"Mhm?"  
"I-"

Before he could finish, the scenery blacked out in front of his eyes.


	2. -

Part 2

Sou woke up in the back of a moving truck. It was dark. It smelled of residual odour of Pokémon, metal that had been in contact with skin, many humans, cardboard, printing ink and paint. Residual scent of Brendan and his cologne. And mostly importantly, smell of Ethan, alive and breathing, coming from not far away. He reached out a hand. Loose cloth? He brushed it away and found bare skin. An alerted yelp was produced. No mistake, it was Ethan's voice.  
"Silver? What time is it?"  
Sou took out his Pokégear. It was seven in the evening. In the faint light from the miniature screen, Sou could see that Ethan was bare except for his underwear - a simple grey brief - and the outer garments were used as sheets.  
"What the heck happened?" Sou asked.  
"Oh. Team Rocket. Yes, they are back again. Annoying. Attacked the place with sleep powder and spore. Brendan managed to steal a truck, shoved us in and escaped. He's in the front driving the car now."  
"Does he has a driving license?"  
"Yes, for light vehicle. Who cares if our lives depend on it? He's not a bad driver, anyway."

Sou opened the doors a little. Being summer, the sun was still up. There might have been some muted cacophony from the direct of Goldenrod and Route 35, but he couldn't hear them over the truck's engines. Judging from the scenery, they were on Route 37, almost in Ecruteak.

"Why didn't we just fight them?" Sou couldn't help but ask.  
"Do you have the move sleep talk? 'Cause I don't have it."  
"Lyra used to fight her way out of Team Rocket."  
"She fought them pretty much one by one without alerting the rest of them and Lance was backing her up in secret. And as much as you don't like to admit, you were also kicking Rocket asses around the same time same area, thus they weren't ganging up on her. I know that we can probably beat fifteen ordinary grunts at once, but this time they are much more efficient, more elite.  
"Looks like your father really lived up his words."  
"I wish he hadn't."  
"A person going by the handle of Family Emblem left a comment on our website last night, by the way. 'Run. Get away.' Then this morning there was another by the handle of Team Rocket that said 'Do not. Nowhere to run. Father wants to talk. P.S.: FE you traitor.' I thought it was just some tasteless joke at first, but now it seems like they were the real thing. Who's Family Emblem? An ex-Rocket?"  
"Isn't it a bit late to tell me now?"  
"Maybe. But who's FE?"  
"Kamon, my cousin. His name can be written as "Family Emblem" in kanji. He used to be part of Team Rocket, but he got sick of it at one point and dropped out. Looks like he got recruited back in."  
"Bummer."  
"You should stay off the 'net for some time. It's ruining your vocabulary."

The truck stopped. Brendan couldn't help but tease Ethan's state of undress and actually caressed his body, calling it beautiful. They all knew he was joking, but it was creepy enough that Ethan took out an extremely ugly shirt and threatened Brendan with it. It worked.

Ethan got dressed and stepped out from the truck. They should be safe here, in Ecruteak, the city of traditions and legends. The two legendary birds of Johto, Lugia and Ho-oh, were said to have once resided on the millennium-old twin towers of Ecruteak. After the birds left, they city stayed strong and beautiful in hope that one day they would come back. It was the fourth largest city of Johto with a popular of 46 thousand, but barely any of them was out on that day.

Because Team Rocket was here too. They were wearing the Grunt uniform, running in the streets, arms flailing in attempt to chase away invisible. Their houndooms tried to bite the assailant away, to no avail: houndoom can't fly. The cityfolk probably stayed away in hope that it was not contagious.

"Ethan, Sou, Brendan. Good to see you here. Want to give me a hand?" Morty, the Gym Leader of Ecruteak, pointed to the Rockets. "I wanted to chase them out, but they run around in circles instead..."

The boys let out their Pokémon. They attacked the Rockets, but still they ran in circles.

"I don't think they can get out if they want too..." Brendan noticed. But there were no barriers of any sort to stop them. He looked up in the sky. Nothing there, not even with special glasses. He took out a compass and waved around. No magnetic field in the ground either. Morty's scarf looked really that good and it would be great to win it from him via a Pokémon battle, but it was not the time to think about that. Focus. Enthralled... mind control? Hypnosis? Mental suggestions under hypnosis. If the Rockets were under hypnosis, there must be at least some hints... Ah. He sniffed around. The scents of Ecruteak were rich. Tea, food, incense, scented wood, women, men, Pokémon, running water, plant saps...

Incense?

Brendan remembered Ethan's incense collection. While most incense were for ambience, some had special effects. In a city like Ecruteak, most incense used in houses would be for calming the spirit, for lifting the spirit, for appetite, for the deceased and for illusion of the sea. Ethan had showed him all of them with variations. But here was a new scent not commonly smelled in Johto, a smoky perfume that reminded Brendan of Hoenn, of its desert on Route 111 and of Rayquaza's Sky Pillar.  
"Ethan?"  
"Yes?"  
"Tell me, what's this desert-like scent in the air?"  
Ethan sniffed the air for a while. Sou did the same.  
"Gunpowder?" Sou tried. He was not very good at kōdō or anything that demanded to tell apart scents.  
"Baltoy." Ethan said. "In cacnea pulp, with a scrapping of trapich innards, a pinch of roselia poison powder and a hint of paralyze powder and sleep powder. Also oddish sprout. Not sure where the rest is from."  
"What does it do?" Brendan asked, sensing that they were getting close.  
"I don't know. Never used such a mix. Smells harmful though."  
"I think I know." Sou answered. "Isn't this a recreational drug? I remember Team Rocket selling something similar to teenagers. They got their senses enhanced for a while after inhaling a certain quantity of it, but then they'll start to go mad or something. The Rockets told me not to touch it because it's for the weak of the mind. I didn't see the point of inhaling poison anyway, so I didn't."  
The others looked reasonably worried.  
"Um," Brendan risked, "are we affected?"  
"Not at all. I mean, I don't think so. You have to sniff the actual powder or concentrated vapour for a visible effect."  
"So, what do we do with them?"  
"Knock them out and send them to hospital?"  
"Wait." Ethan interrupted. "Brendan, do you have a Pokémon with aromatherapy? We can neutralise the poison first."  
"Sure. Kiki, Koko, Lilia, Heal Bell and Aromatherapy now!"

Two skitty and one roselia came out from specialised Poké Balls and used the moves. A clear chime and a gentle perfume spread in the city, mixed with the harmful smoke to form a new, dry yet reassuring, scent. The Rockets stopped in their track. Yet they didn't come back to their senses. They simply stopped moving. They still breathed and their eyes blinked, but they didn't move. The pupils dilated and contracted in shadows and light, but not all followed movements. When their body was moved, they would stay in the same position they were put in, as if they were wax puppets.

Morty passed a hand over their body. Some dust stuck to his hand. He focused on it.

The baltoy was still alive.

No, the baltoys were still alive. Many were used. Someone or something was controlling them, sending psychic signals to their no-longer attached parts. The wounds from the severing were not healed. Prevented from healing. The Pokémon were in agony.

He focused on the humans themselves. Their mind was blocked by the poison. There were nerves damages as well. They were like flesh puppets.

"Ethan?" He turned to the boys. "I have some business to attend to. Here are my keys. Please contact Lyra and tell her to assist me."

He flew away on his drifblim. The city should be safe. Even without him, the Kimono Girls could take care of Rockets and other attacks. Volunteers were already carrying the fallen Rockets into hospital. They should get better.

As Morty flew out of their sight, Ethan called Lyra.

"The person you're trying to reach cannot answer at the moment. Please try again later. The person you're trying to reach cannot an-"

Strange. Didn't Lyra have an answering machine? Ethan tried again.

"The person you're trying to reach cannot answer at the moment. Please try again later. The person you're trying to reach cannot answer at the moment. Please try again later. The person you're trying to reach cannot answer at the moment. Please try a-"

That was bizarre. He tried another number.

"Signal cannot reach the number you're trying to reach. Please try again later. Signal cannot reach the number you're trying to reach. Please try again later. Sign-"

Sou started trying with his phone. Same result. Brendan's yielded the same messages as well. They tried calling each other and their phones worked fine. It’s Lyra’s side’s problem then.

"The radio." They thought aloud at once.

There was no clear signal on the radio. Most channels that used to be there were replaced by some gibberish. The boys groaned. It was to be expected, as Goldenrod Radio Tower was probably taken along with the city...

"The bell!" Brendan suddenly yelled.  
"What bell? I don't hear any bell..." Ethan replied, bemused.  
"We can communicate with Lyra using that bell on Tin Tower!"

He was right. At the top of Tin Tower, or Bell Tower as it was called after the Brass Tower became Burned Tower, was Clear Bell, a bell which's sound was said to be able to reach very far.

Its sound was said to be able to summon Ho-oh.

Lyra was in possession of Ho-oh.

At once, the boys called out their flying Pokémon and aimed for the tower. It was an old tower, decorated with ho-oh, around which the leaves of trees stayed forever autumn. On each floor there were bells, yet none of them rang, not in the wind, not when brushed against and not when stroke.

“Stop!”

It was a bit late. Sou, the most hot-headed, had already flown head first into the barrier. It produced a rather painful bang and had Ethan not caught him, he’d have fallen to the ground.

“Eusine?” Ethan yelled in surprise.  
“The one and only, I am Eusine the Pokémaniac! But my love for Suicune will never grow dim!”

A flash of blue, purple and white flew past them, crossing the barrier like it was never there. It landed on the tower and turned to face them. A trainer sat on his back, her figure half-hidden in the Pokémon’s purple mane.

Eusine introduced: “Meet Kris and Suicune, the Travelers of the Wind!”  
“Please,” Kris said, palm on the face, “I’m just a regular traveling trainer who’s doing research for a university degree. And Suicune is just Suicune.”  
“Nonsense! You’re the master of Suicune, the incarnation of North Winds! Suicune is the Aurora that never fades! Purifier of water! Look at its elegance, its beauty! The slender yet powerful legs! The grace when it runs! How its fur shine in the light!”

He went on and on and the boys could only think of one thing. It got worse.

“Ok, ok, ok!” Kris interrupted. “Just introduce the others for me!”  
“Oh, yes, milady.” Eusine said as they landed on the clearing before the tower. “This is Ethan from New Bark Town, birth name Hibiki.”  
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Ethan said, shaking her hand.  
“Hibiki?” Kris said in surprise, not letting his hand go, “The younger brother of Hiroki “Gold” of New Bark Town? The one who finished the Unown Reports after Hiroki left it half-completed?”  
“Well, yes.” Ethan confirmed, embarrassed. “He solved most of the puzzles already; I just had to pick up from where he left and complete the unown dex. He left a whole box of notes too, so it was really not hard. And to be fair, he didn’t open the last hidden room only because he didn’t have Ho-oh.”  
Kris was barely listening. “I was fascinated with the Ruins of Alph since I was only a little girl! You and Hiroki are my heroes! You were only something like ten or eleven years old at the time, I can’t remember, and only an assistant researcher, yet you were able to solve the puzzles and decode the language! Without you two, we would not be able to know so much about them. And your reports were so professional! Hiroki’s reports were simple, like a log, but yours was more detailed, with observations and theories and arguments to justify your theories. The way you annotated your brother’s reports was wonderful! We could feel the connection between you and your br-“  
Sou and Brendan interrupted Kris at once. Each took a hand and presented themselves almost simultaneously. “Please, how about you us tell a bit about yourself?” Brendan suggested, trying to change the subject.  
“But I was talking about myself too. Really, Ethan, why did you quit studying the Ruins? You were offered a promotion to Professor too, weren’t you? It would have been a wonderful career. Plus it was the ruins your b-“  
Again, Brendan and Sou interrupted. Ethan’s face was getting darker the more his brother was mentioned. They were in a forest right now, which was inflammable. It was the rare, eternally autumn coloured trees of Bellchime Trails on top of that. They could certainly not let Ethan burn that down. They had to drag her away and make her promise to not mention his brother again.  
“Alright, sorry about that.” Kris resumed. “May I ask what were you trying to do with the Tower? Ho-oh already has an owner, so even if you summon it, it won’t be yours.”  
“Exactly,” Brendan explained, “Lyra, our friend, is the one with Ho-oh. Morty told us to call her, but something’s wrong with her phone. We are hoping that Clear Bell can reach her via her Ho-oh.”  
“Then you may have to wait,” Kris responded. “The real Clear Bell is taken back for repair right now. The one atop is a fake.”

 

Taking advantage of a commotion from the direction of Ecruteak, Morty sneaked into Goldenrod and landed on top of the Goldenrod Radio Tower, invisible to passersby thanks to ghostly illusions. The telepathic signals were mixed in radio signals and broadcasted across the land from here. The city was full of Rockets. Knowing their taste in Pokémon, there must be some with dark type and it wouldn't be long before he was discovered. The priority would be to stop the broadcast, then free the city once the human puppets were down. But how? The antenna looked too solid to be knocked down in one hit. Cutting down the power could work...

 _If only Lyra was here. And Eusine._

 

At Indigo Plateau, before the Hall of Fame, Lyra’s dragonite roared in rage. _No, do not use Hyper Beam,_ its trainer told it, _you’ll tire out too fast. Save your strength. Now, Dragon Pulse._ The dragon Pokémon obeyed and blasted away a nidoking, avoiding contact with its Poison Point. _Now, Hone Claws. Dodge. Dragon Claw that arbok. Whirlwind away the poison gas. Earthquake._

 _Save your strength._

It was hard to save strength when attacks came from all directions. The dragonite shifted its body, trying to shield its trainer, who was already bleeding from her arm. Shards of broken Pokégear were embedded in the wound. The hope was lost here.

Dragonite waited for the signal to escape.

 

Dark. A tower inclined. Ethan fell down through the floors until he hit the ground below. It was of a red brighter than cinnabar, yet darker than blood. That didn’t make sense, he thought, I’m dreaming. He checked his Pokémon. They were no longer his team, but unowns that, in order, spelt HURRY. Knowing that this was a dream and that in dreams texts do not last, he looked away and looked again. This time, a cyndaquil was there, named HURRY. The unowns now spelt LEAVE.

He got up, and searched for an exit. Now and then he felt like if he was being watched. In the corner of his eyes, he could see the red, disembodied eyes of ninetales.

He checked his Pokémon again. The team remained the same: a cyndaquil and five unowns. Strange. He called out the cyndaquil, thinking that its flame could help light the area. It was a strange cyndaquil. It was not a real cyndaquil, but more like a picture of a cyndaquil. To specify, it looked like a picture of his brother’s cyndaquil when he just got it from Prof. Elm.

Not again. Another dream like that. He tried anything he could in the last few days; changed rooms, held cleanse tags, drawn purification seals and had Sou’s gengar cleared his mind with Dream Eater. Still, they came to haunt him. He wondered if his brother didn’t die out there and became a mononoke.

The not-cyndaquil had the move Flash. Ethan ordered the Pokémon to use it. The room lit up, unveiling red and black walls that went up forever. It was more like inside a well than under a tower. The smears on the walls looked sometimes like faces, sometimes like unowns.

One of them looked like the blurred picture of a cave entrance.

As he stared at it, he was pulled into it. Soon, it appeared that he was not being pulled into a tunnel, but falling down something like a dark well. His descend accelerated in free fall. There was a beam of light in the well as if someone was pointing a flash light from behind him.

In the bottom of the well was a humanoid body, indistinguishable from the distance except blurs of gold, red and white.

In a light hypnic jerk, Ethan woke up. Sou was crying over his body.  
“A-ah, no, I got sand in my eyes.” Sou lied, blushing. “Really. I wasn’t crying for you or anything. You are not that dear to me. You’re just my personal cook. Yeah, like that.”  
“You got hit by several Pokémon attacks.” Brendan informed. “Another group of puppet-Rockets came and ambushed us. Seriously, attacking the trainer directly? In a sneak attack too? Not even the old Team Rocket would do something like this. By the way, Sou definitely didn’t panic when you got hit. No sir. Calmer than a statue. He certainly didn’t order a Beat Up, carried you here and collapsed in tears when the nurses told him that your spirit got knocked out and they didn’t know when you’d wake up. And mostly importantly, he certainly wasn’t the one who sent his gengar to fetch it back. You should thank him.”  
Ethan looked around. “Where are Kris and Eusine?”  
“Kris’s on the Tin Tower.” Sou said between sobs. “Expanded the barrier to protect the whole city and keeping it that way until we feel safe enough. Suicune helped with purification. Eusine left for Goldenrod to help Morty.”

 

Morty checked the windows. The glass panels looked too hard to break. He took out a knife and tried to cut out the frames. No use.

 _Lyra, where are you?_

Then he slipped. His balloon Pokémon caught him, but he couldn’t help letting out a yelp. Immediately, he felt heads turning this way. A few houndour started barking.

 _This is stupid,_ he thought. _How could I be so careless? I should have waited for Lyra and Eusine before doing this stupid stunt._

Then a large explosion shook the city’s North Gate. The houndour that were barking at Morty was left mute for half a second, then all of them directed their attention to the explosion. There was the sound of something coming this way at high-speed. Rolling this way. While singing a sped-up remix of SS Anne maiden voyage celebration song.

No mistake. That was him.

“Ladies, Gentleman and Pokémon! Behold Eusine the Mystery Man!”

 

In Ecruteak Hospital, Ethan relaxed on his bed. Brendan was feeding him porridge. Nurses who walked by threw curious glances at them, but he was too exhausted to correct them.

He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. It was quiet here, thanks to the barrier of Tin Tower.

He wondered how Lyra was doing.

 

There was a loud noise from above. When Lyra looked up, the roof was gone. Black helicopters with distinct red R on them hovered over the place like vultures.

Lyra saw their chance. _Earthquake, now! We are leaving this place.  
At last, my human. With gratitude._ It was time that they save their own skin. This time, it did not mere pound the ground for the Earthquake. It sent a pulse of energy below, with all its strength, more powerful than any other attack it has used so far.

The Indigo Plateau collapsed.

The dragonite, its trainer in its arms, shot itself out of the still falling wreckage, downing three helicopters in the process.

 

Ethan felt that he had rested enough. Brendan was helping with the patients as a volunteer. Sou was checking the news and hacking satellites. Ethan himself helped by preparing food, but there were only three meals in a day.

He thought of Morty who went in the direction of Goldenrod alone. What made him leave in such hurry? And Eusine, who left to help his friend.

It felt unfair to Ethan that his friends and he stayed inside the barrier when others were outside to fight. After all, it was not as if they couldn’t fight.  
“We have to go help them.” He decided.  
Brendan protested. “Are you sure? Sure there must be another ten year-old nearby who can do it.”  
Sou agreed with Brendan. “It’s dangerous to just charge in without a plan or Lyra.” He said, printing the maps of Goldenrod and nearby routes. “Like you said, they are more elite this time. We cannot survive if many of them attack at once. The first time we escaped, the second time we are lucky to meet a team of mere puppets and had powerful allies. Both times one of us fainted from sneak attack, which was embarrassing.”  
“So your plan is…?” Ethan asked. The blue of his eyes seemed at the same time glow brighter and darker.  
For a fraction of second, Sou doubted that he was in reality. Those eyes… It reminded him of Ethan’s nightmares. He pulled him back together and continued: “We tried contacting Lyra, but we failed. However, it is Lyra. She’s always there when something big pops up in Johto, isn’t she? If she knows, she will interfere. Something like Goldenrod Takeover, Take Two, will surely attract her attention. And look at this.” He showed them his laptop. “This is image feed from a scout satellite. The entire Johto region is under attack! I’ll be damned if she doesn’t try to do anything.”  
Ethan’s brows tightened. “Can you show us what’s going on here?” He pointed to the east of the map. Sou complied.

The Indigo Plateau was gone.

Brendan was on verge of tears. “Oh… Lyra… Lyra was at Indigo Plateau, wasn’t she? Does that mean…”  
“Nah.” Sou interrupted him, both with his words and a light slap on the face. “She probably caused it. Hope she has enough money to pay for it. Isn’t it right, Hibiki?”  
Ethan nodded in agreement. Only Lyra would blow up something like Indigo Plateau. An evil organisation would try to loot it first.  
“So,” Sou concluded. “That means she’s on the move. We can plan our attacks now.”  
Ethan continued for him: “If we try to approach from the surface, we’ll get caught for sure. I’m saying that we dig our way there.”  
“While it doesn’t sound very heroic, we better have some decoy diggers that approach from different angles.” Sou suggested.  
Brendan protested. “But we are only allowed six Pokémon each. If we use some for decoy, we would not have a full team once we are in.”  
“Is there a way to bring more Pokémon?” Sou asked, looking at Ethan.  
“Yes,” Ethan confirmed. “As a Pokémon breeder and researcher, I am allowed to carry more than six Pokémon. However, only six will be active and the rest will be in lock-down mode until I deactivate one of the active six. No, we can’t open them with brute force. If attempt to do so, the button will break first, which will just activate the failsafe that locks the ball down until it can be repaired. ”  
“What if you forsake your license?” Brendan asked.  
Ethan laughed. “Sure, they will no longer be in lock-down mode, but that’s against the law. I’ll be fined if I’m lucky, jailed if not, but either way I probably won’t be able to have a trainer license again.” He took a breath and stared Brendan right in the eyes. “You might as well as kill me.”  
“How about you release one of the active ones just before they faint and have one of us capture it immediately, sending it back to Bill or Lanette’s PC? This would activate one of the locked ones and you get to send away a wounded Pokémon safely. ”  
“Or we could just release a group and control only the leader.”  
“Could work.” Ethan nodded. He starts to like Sou even more now.  
“No need to.” A female voice joined. She was wearing a hospital gown. “We’d like to join your little adventure too.” She licked her lips, which were dry and peeling. “We can’t let this opportunity pass, can we? Whoever out there had insulted us... and we’d love to have a payback.”

She bared her teeth. A whole group of trainers in hospital gowns lined up behind her.

 

The news of Team Rocket’s assault on Johto had reached Hoenn. Steven Stone, who wasn’t busy digging in a cave for once, saw the news on TV with his father. “Sorry, dad,” he said, “looks like I’m going to waste more of my time and money. I hope you don’t mind.” And he took off on his Skarmory.

Mr. Stone could only watch as his son left again. He had worked very hard to build his empire, yet his son was only interested in stones and Pokémon. Just like the father, but with more courage and less responsibility. No, a different priority in responsibility.

Mr. Stone didn’t hate his son. He didn’t even dislike him. He loved him. But like many fathers, he hadn’t spent much time with him. He had never taught his son how to take care of a corporation and Steven hadn’t bothered to learn by himself. So far, he was not even sure his son had the notion of money, even less business, cost and profit.

Did it matter? No, Mr. Stone thought. Steven was a good boy even as he was a massive money sink. Steven was kind and curious. He was the ex-Champion of Ever Grande League. He had many friends and nearly no enemies. He was handsome and refined, a model gentleman. As a person, Steven was good enough. Mr. Stone was proud of him.

Still, Mr. Stone was getting old. He had called Steven to discuss his position as heir, but again, they didn’t have a chance to talk about it. He wondered if the only way to communicate with his son was to exchange mail. An unofficial list of candidates to succeed Mr. Stone sat on the table behind him. It was time to find a new heir. All that was needed was Steven’s opinion. If he agreed to stay an heir and worked for it, it would be for the best. If he didn’t... he would be free to do whatever he wanted. He could marry a stone if he wanted to.

 

Brendan’s phone rang. “That isn’t the right time!” he whispered to himself. He checked the caller. Steven Stone. He sent the busy tone. A minute later, it rang again. May Birch this time. He considered answering, but his teammates were yelling at him, so he pressed ‘Busy’ again.

The underground network was almost done.

Another call. From home this time. Should be mom, but from the time it could be dad as well, as it was the usual hour where he came home to eat. Busy tone.

“The underground paths are into their final phase!” A trainer reported. “Prepare for Operation Feint Attack.”

“Helmet ready?” A female voice alerted. She was confident and energetic, with a hint of playfulness. She probably saw this as an exciting high-risk game.

As for the helmets and other equipment, the Ecruteak Pokémon Centre was kind enough to donate the material. Brendan designed and made the final products. He was proud of them.

“Filter set?” It was Ethan’s voice. If it wasn’t because he was so timid, he would make a good leader material. His voice was strong, charismatic and it projected well, unlike some voices that broke apart as soon as they left the mouth.

Brendan’s phone rang yet again. Wally this time. He wished there was a function to temporally blacklist a whole circle of contacts. Again he sent the busy tone.

“Operation Feint Attack in 3, 2, 1!”  
“Dig/Brick Break!”

A dozen violent quakes resonated from different parts of the city at the same time. The puppet-Rockets immediately rushed to these zones. The suppressed citizens screamed and cheered outside and inside, creating a cacophony that covered the city like a silencing veil of white noise. Teams of trainers and Pokémon poured out like beedrill out of their nest from the sources of the quakes, gaping holes and fissures in the ground and walls of Goldenrod Tunnel. They attacked the puppet-Rockets on sight...with Mean Look, followed by pulse attacks, regardless of user’s type. The Rockets counter-attacked, but could not hit more than an after-image.

The puppeteer must have noticed the impossibility of the situation. The puppet-Rockets immediately stopped using single-target moves and employed terrain moves instead, such as Earthquake and Shockwave. Physical-type Earthquake went past the invaders like through shadows, but had the effect of sealing the passage behind them. Shockwave and Lava Plume, however, stunned them and made the images flicker.

“Foresight!” A puppet-Rocket ordered his noctowl. His voiced sounded as if mixed with radio interferences.

The invaders blinked and revealed themselves to be countless gastly and few haunter, lead by a gengar.

The doors of Goldenrod Tunnel exists shut and locked.

“Behind you all the time, flesh puppets.”

Clouds of therapeutic powder filled the Tunnel. The Rockets fell on contact, unconscious.

The ghost Pokémon floated to the surface through the ceiling. From above, birds threw down ringing Pokémon as if they were bombs. Whenever a puppet-Rocket heard the sound, they stopped moving.

“That was easy.” A trainer said as he opened the North Gate.  
“What next?” Another trainer asked as she watched her houndour did a victory roll the floor. “It felt almost too easy.”  
“You girls always think too much.” A third trainer said, “it was too easy when they took over, why can’t it be as easy for us? After all, in both case it was ‘stun the humans with powders and stuff and pile them up’. Easy come, easy go.”  
“I’m not sure that’s where you use the expression...”The second trainer said, ignoring the other trainer’s rants. She tilted her head to the side and straighted the neck. She didn’t mind digging tunnels, but how she practically had to crawl in there made her whole spine ache. When she opened her eyes from a rather satisfied stretch, the redhead from Hospital was in her field of view. “Silver, is it?” She stopped him. “Please, tell us more about this not-Rocket invasion.”  
“Actually, it’s Sou, Silver is a nickname.” The redhead, or Sou, responded. “Sure, I’ll tell you the where-how-why-and-who of this event, or at least what I know of it. First, where? The principal targets of this take over are Goldenrod and Indigo Plateau, followed by Olivine. Other cities were attacked as well, but it felt more like a decoy of sort, as the human puppets there were not very good fighters and preferred stalling over sweeping. I said ‘preferred’, but they were not thinking as individuals. Which leads to, how? A suggestion was sent to the group and they just stick to the command. Like what you probably heard from the nurses, it was psychic manipulation. Question was, how did it get into people? You said you were walking down the field and someone just dumped something over you and the next thing you remembered was Ecruteak Hospital, but so far the number of human puppets is estimated to be around 20,000. I can’t believe all of them was turned this way.”

A phone rang, interrupting Sou’s speech. It was a text message.

Sender: Eusine  
\---  
Morty here with me in goldenrod  
w got caught  
live baltoys tortured  
in radio tower  
help us  
\---

“Well, looks like we need to get to the Tower.”  
“We’ll go.” A pair of trainers volunteered. “You guys keep talking.” “Don’t forget to keep us updated when we come back!”

Sou continued. “As for the motive... First, Goldenrod City. Last time Team Rocket took over Goldenrod, it was to use the Radio Tower to deliver a message to Giovanni that could reach as far as possible, because they didn’t know where he went. So far, no obvious message on the radio this time, I’m still working on that. Last time they had radio signals that did things to Pokémon, like forced evolutions and stuff, but nothing similar so far. But this place must be important, as almost half of their visible forces are there. This city is known for 5 things: the Radio Tower, the Magnet Train, the Department Store and the massive population, all if which pretty useful for world domination. Heck, if I was evil, I’d start here too. The population is raw material for their army, the Department Store for equipment, tools and provisions, the Train to move the army around for invasion, plus there’s a port for that too, even if it’s less known, and finally, the Radio Tower to send message pretty much anywhere in this quarter of the planet. They have everything they need.

“The Indigo Plateau is bit strange. It’s the totally opposite of Goldenrod: it has nothing. Except maybe bunch of files that could also be downloaded from the Internet. If they attack it, it’s probably for the morale... or to recruit the Elite Four and the Champion. However, it’s summer right now, so the Elite Four are probably on vacation. The only remaining object of interest is Lyra, the Champion of Indigo Plateau. Not only she is an exceptional trainer, a hero who once fought Team Rocket, she is also the owner of the legendary Ho-oh of Tin Tower. If she is my enemy, I wouldn’t be able to sleep. Taking her down would be on my top priority list.

“Next, Olivine...”  
“Wait,” Ethan interrupted, “there was another object of interest at Indigo Plateau.”  
“Oh?” Sou’s eyes widened.  
“They didn’t tell you when you won the Championship because... well, I think you know. But when I beat the League and was Champion for a month, they told me that guarding the feathers of Legendary Birds was also part of Champion’s job. They changed the hiding place for every new Champion, but it was there alright: a collection of all five legendary birds of Johto-Kanto areas, which means a single feather from Moltres, Articuno and Zapdos for the Kanto League and a single feather from Ho-oh and Lugia for the Johto League. Only the fire bird feathers were known to the public, but the others were there too, for balance or something. You see, with the feather of a legendary bird and the right ritual, you could summon it.”  
“I see. So they were trying to get the feathers for summoning at the same time?”  
“Last time Team Rocket came here, it was also because the station manager had a collection of summon items for the legends of Johto. He had the feathers and a clear bell of Tin Tower.”  
“Do you think he has the Tidal Bell too?”  
“No, all sacred bells are now under the protection of Kimono Girls.”  
As the audience was getting impatient, Sou resumed his explanation. “Olivine... Is a port city and home to the Lighthouse. If one has Goldenrod, one already has a port, so they probably weren’t there for the port. However, if one is after the legendary birds, I see why: it is connected to the easier road to Whirlpool Islands. The only other mean is by air and Lugia loves shooting down trespassers. You’d want to disguise yourself as one of these tourist boats that it was used to see.

“Now, finally,” Sou noticed that the audience breathed an air of relief at ‘finally’, “the who. You are probably wondering if it’s really Team Rocket. I have to answer, yes and no. Don’t give me that ‘oh Arceus, please no more’ look, I’m going to keep it short. Some old members of Team Rocket are in this, but probably not all of them. No, it’s not obvious. What I try to say is that only about 70% of the core members are in. Some of them refused the call. If you want names, Proton and his fans are in and many Rocket scientists are in. The other three executives are only in for a ‘mutual favour’ and will leave as soon as it was done. And Giovanni is still missing. How did I know? I had a personal vendetta against them, especially Giovanni. I know there bases and satellite coordinates. I have double agents who inform me of their activities. It’s personal. That is all.”

The small crowd dismissed, disappointed. Only the first and last parts were useful information. Still, that was a lot to digest. Over 20 thousand ‘Rockets’ and half of them in Goldenrod...  
“Wait a minute, how many of them did we fight?”

A cargo ship and a train left the city. Sou immediately opened his laptop and let Ethan enter the League’s site using admin pass. He checked the GPS - Trainer Tracker - Track by location.

The boat and the train were full of trainers and Pokémon.

Suddenly, a loud broadcast could be heard in the entire city.

ATTENTION ATTENTION

REBEL TRAINERS, YOU HAVE UNDERESTIMATED US, HAVEN’T YOU?

HAHAHAHAHAHA.

WELL, THAT’S WHAT YOU GET FOR FIGHTING AGAINST THE GREAT ME.

SHOULDN’T YOU BE WORRIED THAT THE LACKIES YOU SENT TO THE RADIO TOWER HAVE NOT RETURNED AFTER SO LONG?

AND THE ONES IN THE UNDERGROUND, WHY HAVEN’T YOU CHECKED ON THEM? SHOULDN’T YOU MEET THEM ON THE SURFACE?

WELL WELL, YOU ARE HORRIBLE STRATEGISTS, THAT’S WHAT.

AND YOUR FRIENDS MORTY AND EUSINE ARE HERE AS WELL. IF I’M NOT MISTAKEN, ONE OF THEM SENT YOU A MESSAGE ‘ALMOST’ UNNOTICED.

IF YOU WANT TO SEE YOUR FRIENDS AGAIN, JOIN US AT THE RADIO TOWER. ALONE. THAT MEANS SOU AND ETHAN OF INDIGO LEAGUE, BRENDAN OF EVER GRANDE LEAGUE AND POKÉMON. IF ANYONE ELSE COME, WE’LL KILL THE HOSTAGES.

OH MY, I’VE ALWAYS WANTED TO SAY THAT.

SEE YOU IN A WHILE.

“Goodness, that was annoying.” Sou commented. Not even his ‘uncles and aunties’ were that much of an obnoxious ham. Wait, maybe some of them.

Then he saw Ethan. The breeder was terrified.

“What’s wrong?” Sou asked. “Don’t tell me that you got scared by that.”  
“Hiroki.” Ethan murmured.  
“What?”  
“Hiroki! My brother! It’s my brother’s voice!”

 

A dozen helicopters could be heard in the distance.

The boys hurried to the Tower.


	3. -

**Part 3**

The first thing they realised was that the Rocket grunts inside the radio tower were not puppets. They were the same old Rocket grunts, evil but somehow lawful in their own way. As usual, instead of pulling out a gun and just shooting them, they challenged the boys to Pokémon battle with Pokémon that, if they were even trained, not trained for real battle.

The second thing was that they were familiar. Some even said hi. One even, upon seeing Sou, pointed at him and yelled “You’re the boy who stripped that young lady in front of me!” Sou was pissed, but didn’t hurt him.  
“Why are you here?” Sou couldn’t help but ask them.

The answers were diverse. “The paycheck’s good.” “Free grooming for my snakes!” “Proton’s here! He has such a cute ass! Kya!” “I don’t know, I was bored.” “I have worked for Team Rocket all my life. Most are pretty good people. No one holds on promise like they do.”

In general, the first Rocket grunts they meet were quite jolly and friendly.

The third thing they noticed was that they were scared. They unconsciously tried to look at one direction, but dare only to do so from the corner of their eyes. Many seemed to want to tell them something, yet backed up at last second.

“Please,” one of them begged, “be careful.”  
“It would not be our fault if you get caught because you are weak,” a female grunt said to them, “try to avoid confronting directly. Find the source of power.” She made a grimace, as if something was hurting her. “Weaklings, hmph!” She added with affection, cuddling her two vileplume.

As they moved on, Sou looked back and saw the vileplume lady was looking at them. Discretely, he made a series of hand signs. She saw it and smiled at him.

 

Proton welcomed them in the next floor. Four grunts were with him.  
“You. And you.” He pointed at Sou and Ethan. “Weren’t you two, along with the girl, part of those who fought against us in the last revival attempt of Team Rocket? Time to deliver onto you the wrath of Team Rocket!”

One of the grunts released an arbok that went straight for Sou’s head. Brendan immediately called out his milotic, which jumped over Sou’s head, nearly knocking his hat off. It clashed with the poison snake, tail against fangs.

“Méli-Mélo, Ice Beam!”  
“Arbok! Thunder Fang!”

Instead of standing immobile in order to launch an Ice Beam, the sea serpent slithered towards the viper in a dazzling speed and, once close enough, performed a rapid u-turn, knocking the arbok over with an Iron Tail. Making sure that the viper had lost focus for the Thunder Fang, Méli-Mélo breathed Ice Beam at the snake over the fan-like tail, its body coiled like a spring.

“I’ll help! Weezing!” Another grunt yelled.

Méli-Mélo took this opportunity to uncoil itself. Its tail hit the frozen arbok, pushing it towards the just-released weezing. The latter gained altitude to escape the block of ice only to be downed by a precise strike of Aqua Tail.

“What else you’ll use? Golbat and houndour?” Brendan taunted.  
“You’ll be surprised…”

A silver and red shadow flew out of Proton’s Poké Ball. Before Méli-Mélo and Brendan could react, its wings shone with white light and went for the milotic like a harvest sickle. Méli-Mélo dodged a fraction of second too late. A large wound opened on its stomach, making it coil from pain. The great bird flew over the three boys’ head and, reaching the end of the room, kicked the wall, folded the wings, before launching itself at them again. In the second it stopped on the wall, the boys recognised it: skarmory, the bird of steel.

“Méli-Mélo, it’s coming back, Icy Wind!”  
“Steel type is strong against ice. Another Steel Wing! Cut through the wind!”

Indeed the Steel Wing cut through the wind. At the last second, the wind changed to become more pulse-like and became more fiery. Yet the steel bird cut through it with even more ease. It hit Méli-Mélo square in the jaw, knocking it over.

“Sorry, but Steel is strong against Dragon type too.” Proton laughed. “Finish it off.”  
To their surprise, Sou walked between them and stood there. “I’ll take over from here. Brendan, let Méli-Mélo recover.”  
The grunts and Proton laughed. “Alright, let your Pokémon out. We’ll see if it could take on our bird here.”  
Sou did not move. “It is already out.”  
“What?” Proton’s face twisted into a grimace.  
“It is already out, can you not see?”  
They could not. “Are you playing games with us, punk? Skarmory, give him a lesson.... Cut his head off!”

The great bird went for his head. There was a blur of red and grey.

In Ethan’s perception of the Radio Tower, the scenery was surrounded by mist. The walls were translucent. The more he focused, the more transparent the walls became. Morty and Eusine were in the Tower. The trainers sent here too. All were tied up and put in a cage, the same kind Rockets used for Pokémon. They were hungry and thirsty, but quite alive. Guards and scientists were in the same room. Another… he was not sure what it was. It was a black shadow whose shape and truth could not be identified. It was the topmost room in the Tower.

But where were the Radio Tower staff? He searched again. Should be in the Basement. Like a jab, the pained cry of Brendan’s milotic hit Ethan, distracting him. He turned to look at the culprit: skarmory. They have fought Gym Leader with that before. Nothing difficult, right? Just use fire or lightning…  
Then he realised that Brendan didn’t have these types on him. He was on vacation, so all his Pokémon were those with HM techniques. Plusle and camerupt must be in his PC. His Champion team must be in Ever Grande awaiting challengers for him. Ethan reached for Mareep.

I’ll take over from here. He heard Sou say. Relieved, the breeder let go of Mareep’s Poké Ball. He dived again into spirit view. The Tower staff was in the same situation as the hostages above. He let his spirit rise up to the top floor again.

He felt the connection to his body shaken when a killing intent was aimed for Sou.

The skarmory stopped a centimeter before Sou’s face. The cute black hat with silver buckle was no longer on Sou’s head. It was now on top of an astonished skarmory, the latter flinched from having ghostly voices piercing and resonating in its body. It was not very effective, but the bird flinched alright.

“Make it quick, Mismagius.”

An impressive Thunder attack forced the watchers to block their ears and close their eyes. When the sound and light faded, the great steel bird was down.

Where the black hat used to be was a purple ghost, with a silver Spell Tag on its hat-like head.

 _Looks like I didn’t miss the cue this time, young master. It said with telepathy._

“You are still a lousy bodyguard... but good job.” Sou grinned. “You are a great magus.”

 

Ethan focused on the top room. He tried to contact Morty, to no avail. There was something like black mist mixed in the normally white mist in that place. It seemed that psywaves were drowned when they touched the black mist.

Where was Hiroki? Was he even there? No, he was not.

There was traces of him alright. The source of the black mist was holding a pair of sunglasses that smelled like Hiroki. There was a picture of Hiroki too. And memories of Hiroki. But the black shadow was not Hiroki. Not because it felt more like a Pokémon than a human, but because its mind was far too complex for an idiot like Hiroki.

The Tower held memories of Hiroki too. Few footsteps on the floor, echoes in the space and aura prints on the walls. They were faint, diluted by the sheer quantity of presences that had been here.

Ethan followed the footsteps. Some were big, some were small. He found many small ones where another pair was near, the steps of himself in the past, running after his brother. He found many lingering steps of Hiroki, big and small, old and new, on the floor where DJ Mary hosted her show.

Some steps were small yet recent. They clearly felt like Hiroki, but the aura trace was from something much smaller, the size of a toddler. There was smell of death attached to it, as well as bitterness and regret, much unlike the cheerful and passionate nature of the Hiroki he knew.

A summoned Thunder disrupted Ethan’s spirit vision. He snapped back in his body, just in time to cover his ears. Sou’s hat, no, a mismagius, had just defeated the enemy skarmory.

Proton and his underlings sent out their entire team of Pokémon, minus those who fainted. Yet they still only sent a maximum of three Pokémon to the battlefield per trainer, with the rest moving back and metaphorically sitting on the bench. The Team Rocket might be evil, psychotic, sadistic and outlaw, but no one ever violated the rules of Pokémon battle, just as they would never pull out a gun and shoot one of those annoying kids. If they kidnapped or killed someone, they had to do it fair and square. Also, stealing is fair too.

Sou was amused. “So... Quintuple Triple Battle? Crobat. Feraligatr. Mismagius. Show them what we are made of.”

The central silver line on Mismagius’s Spell Tag gleamed and opened into a blood red eye.

The Rockets could not even last five minutes.

With Crobat and Feraligatr back in their Balls and Mismagius a hat, Sou walked past his opponents, ice from Feraligatr’s attacks crackling under his boots. Brendan, having recalled his milotic after it healed, followed. Ethan, still half-lost in thoughts, was the last to join them.

The breeder froze.

A skarmory feather was pressed against Ethan's throat.

"Now, if you don't want your friend to get hurt..."

A Rocket grunt managed to sneak behind them and hold Ethan hostage. He was trembling. The feather, which was sharper than a regular knife, broke the skin where it touched. Ethan stood there, motionless.

The grunt could not see the face of his hostage. He must be scared, he thought. His friends sure are: one of them is backing himself to a wall and the other is too afraid to do anything.

"Put your Poké Balls where I can see them. Now, put them on the ground. Slowly..."

Yet, a cold, poisonous tongue licked the back of the grunt’s neck. The venom rapidly sank in and he felt his muscles go numb. Before his brain could process the information, an iron grip caught both of his arms and dragged them open.

"Thank you." Ethan said as he let go of the arms, letting the Rocket grunt fall flat onto the floor.

A blot of blackish purple swam towards the redhead, who then stepped out of the shades. The purple was merged into his shadow. It grinned a Cheshire Cat grin, showing a mouthful of white teeth.

"Good job, Gengar. It mustn't be easy to navigate the shadows of wall cracks."

It lifted half of its now wholly black body out of the ground and twisted its own shape into a message: 'Used to it. Piece of cake. ;-)' and went flat again, still grinning with all its teeth.

 

The top-most floor had no wall, only a circle of windows. The glass, being tempered and anti-UV, filtered the sunlight, only letting a dimmed fraction enter the room. Nevertheless, the room was bright, for it was summer, late in the morning and a sunny day.

It was then that they realised they had not slept all night. Sou was still fully awake, being young and having slept in the after-noon the day before. Ethan and Brendan, however, were only conscious because of adrenaline.

They pulled themselves together, and entered the room.

Morty, Eusine and some others were tied up and kept in a cage in a corner between two desks, in front of a pile of desks, tables and chairs. A boxful of Poké Balls was placed in the opposite side of the room. They had their release-return button broken and locked.

In the centre of the room were three small tables, placed in the shape of a U with the bottom facing the door. Laptops and desktops covered the side tables, cables overflowing like frenzied plants. The centre table, however, was mostly clean. It held only an envelope, a cup of coffee and the elbows of a young man dressed like a veteran Pokémon trainer. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of sunglasses.

Behind him, guards and scientists, the first carefully watching every movement in the room and the latter looking into monitors, taking notes now and then.

And a male trainer, wearing a black and yellow cap backwards on the head, was standing right behind the young man in sunglasses, one hand on the veteran’s shoulder and the other hand holding a pool cue.

The trainer smiled at them. “Hello, brother, long time no see.” He said to Ethan.

There was disgust on Ethan’s face. Sou and Brendan’s eyes widened in fear.

“Who are you?” Ethan asked immediately.  
“Why? I am your brother, Hiroki! You are grown a lot since last time! Still not as great as I am, but you look pretty good! My little Hibiki, you are quite brave.”  
“Who the heck are you?” Ethan asked again, this time with more fire in his voice.  
“I said, I am-”  
Ethan’s voice was almost lava. “You disgusting impostor... Who. In. The Hell. Are. You. And stop using his voice!”

Brendan and Sou backed away. Sou was mouthing something like _Petrel, just stop already, please._

“But my little brother, you-”  
“Just cut it off already, Petrel. It’s embarrassing.” It was a disembodied voice, coming from nowhere.  
“Who said that?” ‘Hiroki’ said, in a voice and tone vastly different of the one he used before, more like a slouching, ambiguously evil middle-aged man than an arrogant young man.  
“Seriously, you still can’t tell my voice after so long?”

A black shadow materialised in an empty spot before the centre table. It had a human form. The black shook a bit, as if disturbed, like black oil on the surface of a human shaped pond. It then flowed away into place, letting red lines and white skin into view.

It was a young man in a stylish short coat and pants, all black and decorated with red lines. A red R adored the place over his heart.

Petrel dropped his disguise. “Oh my, Admin Kamon! Your voice was booming a bit like that, I couldn’t tell immediately. Don’t be mad at me, it’s not like I can’t remember because I didn’t pay attention.”  
“When did you ever pay attention to anything?” Kamon said with a frown, his voice well-attached to his throat this time. “You couldn’t even impersonate my uncle right.”

Sou walked up to his cousin. They had a brief chat in a foreign language with heavy use in code. Kamon ended the conversion by shaking head. The parley had failed.

“So,” Ethan spoke, “are you going to tell me what was the price on my head? And more, why am I here? Why Brendan? I’m assuming that Sou is summoned only because of who he is.”  
Sou sighed. “Don’t worry, I’m not letting them have you easily. We’ll have to fight, that’s all.”

The door locked behind them.

“Proton, you just locked yourself in.” Kamon pointed out.  
“Why can’t I? I used to be an Executive as well! I have the rights!”  
“Emphasis on ‘used to’, you dumbass. You didn’t get demoted for nothing. Weaklings have no place in this room.”  
“Weakling? I just have the Champion of Hoenn trouble and showed him the wrath of Team Rocket! If it wasn’t because your gender-ambiguous little cousin butted in, I would have won!”

A Razor Wind cut Proton’s hat in half.

“You gave trouble to Brendan when he was still mostly in his Coordinator mood, without his Champion team and without even his starter. You might as well as sneak up to a war veteran who’s a triple amputee, slap him in the face while he’s asleep and brag that you defeated him.”

Proton tried to talk back. Then he remembered that Kamon’s battle level. And the fact that Kamon’s an Admin, while himself was an Executive-demoted-to-grunt. He tried to find a corner to sulk. The room’s round. There was an artificial corner made from random piling of furniture, but it was taken. He settled for behind a sofa.

Kamon turned to Sou’s group. “Sorry about the clown show. Hope you at least found it funny. No? Too bad. Me neither. You see, we made a deal with this gentleman here,” he gestured the sunglasses guy behind the table, “that in exchange of some favours, we can revive Team Rocket and the means to conquer the lands.” He turned to the man. “I can tell them everything, right?”  
The man nodded.  
Kamon resumed. “The favours were a Silver Wing, the memory of ocean, the means to receive and broadcast radio waves, and Hiroki’s little brother.  
“For the Silver Wing we attacked Indigo Plateau. Lyra attempted to hinder us by fighting us and later destroying the entire plateau, but our people are working on it. They should return soon.  
“For the memory of ocean, it would be the Blue Orb. However, ever since the Team Aqua versus Team Magma incident, the security was rather tight. Lucky for us, Brendan, a person who had touched the Blue Orb, receiving the memory in the process, came to Johto.  
“For the radio waves... we told him about the Goldenrod Radio Tower and he gave us the army to invade the city, with live baltoy as price.  
“As for Hiroki’s little brother... he turned out to be traveling with Brendan and my cousin - Proton, thanks for providing that information to the enemies - Sou, also known as Soul in the Indigo League Trainer Database. Ethan, why are you checking out his trainer card? No, that was a lowercase L, not a coincidental pen mark.  
“Of course, Sou is here because it’s time that he does his share in the family business. Look, just to make it clear, I hate Team Rocket. They are a bunch of idiots who can’t even defeat a ten-year-old. I don’t even know why I am their Admin, except that because I’m unfortunate enough to be born into that criminal family who somehow thinks that this is a good idea. Thanks to that horrible environment, I spent my entire teenagehood hating everything I came across. I really want to find a princess charming and elope to Unova to start a new life, but there are bunch of crazy idiots who might start blowing up building because no one is telling them what to do anymore. Now that I’m getting old, shouldn’t you share my pain a little bit, Sou?”  
Sou made a low growl. “Kamon, you’re only 17. And I have a new life, why I can’t I keep it?”  
“Because I want to be able to marry at 20 at oldest and your new life is nothing but sleeping with a blue-eyed young man in exchange for food and board.”

They seemed to hear something breaking in Ethan’s mind.

“Sleeping with whom?” He bellowed.  
“You, duh! You seduced him by cooking those delicious food for him and invited him into your house, not the one you shared with your mother, but a new one where you two could be alone! Were you slipping love potion into his food? That’s why you have so many shuckle at your place, isn’t it?”  
Ethan’s face was bright red. “Silver wasn’t sleeping with me! Dear Arceus, I wish he was! The house was because I didn’t want to live alone and he happened to be free! The shuckle was for Rare Candy making, not love potion! Fine, I did make some love potions, but I’ve never used them! I poured them in a pond! The Valentine’s Day Naked Apron was a joke! I didn’t expect him to carry me to bed and ask me if I wanted it! I grew lonely after Lyra seemed to pay more attention to other boys than to me, and in pent-up romantic and sexual frustration I put all my attention on Silver and I was attracted to him after years of living with him I don’t know if I’ve turned gay asoihenvowd-”

They could almost see the blue error screen as Ethan fainted. Sou and Brendan caught him before he hit the floor. They carried him to the sofa and covered his body with a blanket. Proton, knowing that it’s never wise to meddle with Giovanni’s family, kept his mouth shut and stayed behind the sofa.

Kamon didn’t know if he should feel satisfied or guilty.

“Okay,” Sou said, “why are we waiting then?”  
“The Silver Wing is still missing.”

A beeping sound filled the room.

“Speaking of the darkrai,” Kamon said.

The scientists answered the signal and entered a series of commands in one of the computers. The disc-like top floor of the Radio Tower opened from the sides. Wind and sounds of helicopters pierced through the room. The sunglasses man placed a hand on the envelope, preventing it from been blown away.

“Idiots! The barriers! Kinetic barriers!” Kamon yelled.

The scientists typed at the computers and a filter-barrier ring formed, blocking the wind. They inserted more commands. Ports formed around the floor, allowing the helicopters to dock.

Ariana and Apollo.

“Quite a reunion, isn’t this?” Apollo exclaimed. “The four Executives of the organisation-”  
“-one Admin-” Ariana continued.  
“-and the son of Giovanni!” Apollo finished.

The duo tried to give Sou a hug. The boy dodged away.

Kamon snapped. “Mom! Uncle Apollo! Since when do you finish each other’s sentences!”

“Actually, my precious child.” Ariana said, her face as dreamy as when she fawned over Giovanni’s charm.  
“It took us quite some time, but we are here.” Apollo brushed his hair.  
“Since we both had unrequited love for our Leader.”  
“And he had eye for none of us.”  
“He did like my son, but only as a potential heir.”  
“But Ariana and I had executed missions together for years, and developed feelings.”  
“And I’m still of childbearing age. I have wanted another child.”  
“I have confessed my love for the beautiful Ariana.”  
“I have accepted, and the ring is on my finger.”  
“Ariana and Apollo, now a newly married couple!”  
“Together in love, we can protect the world from devastation.”  
“Mom! Uncle! That didn’t even rhythm!”

Sou was embarrassed beyond description. He tried to find a hole to hide in, yet the only place remotely hide-able was behind the sofa, where Proton was looking at his leaders with starry eyes. “If only I could get a partner too...” He sighed. Sou moved away from him, in case it was contagious.

After failing to make Ariana remember her first husband and his biological father, Kamon decided to inquire about the Silver Wing. “Of course! The Silver Wing!” Ariana took out a small box with five feathers inside, one of them actually a wisp of fire, and extracted the silver one. It gleamed under the light.

Kamon gave it to the sunglasses man. He examined it, tasted it and nodded. He then gestured Brendan to come closer.

“Don’t worry, it won’t hurt... much.” Kamon said.

The man grabbed Brendan. Sou tried to stop him, but Kamon blocked the attempt.

The man pressed the the Silver Wing onto Brendan’s forehead, removed the sunglasses and locked eyes with him. He had green-yellow eyes. Without pupils.

 _ **Kyogre.**_ It was a command unspoken. Psywave. _**Ocean. The seas.**_

A memory surfaced in Brendan’s mind. It wasn’t his. It was Kyogre’s memory. The sea, deep and full of noises. Blue. Pressure.

The memory flowed into the silver feather.

Silver Wing started to chime. Brendan collapsed to the ground.

“He’s just asleep.” Kamon assured. Ethan confirmed it.

The green-yellow eyed man was satisfied. A scientist gave him a microphone while another gave him the signal to start. He spoke a music-like language to the microphone and waited for reply.

A music-like series of sounds was captured by the scientists. He listened to it. He spoke again. He listened to a reply that only he could understand, in a language so ancient even the scientists could not catch on. The man smiled.

“Now, your end of the bargain, please.” A scientist said, pointing the envelope.

The man opened it, taking out its content. A stack of sheets of paper. He pressed his fingers into them. Black ink entered between the fibers and moved without rest.

Morty was visibly upset at this.

“It hurts...” Ethan said. “It hurts... It hurts... stop...”

 _ **There.**_ The man said via telepathy. _**A tool to control your toy army.**_ He handed them to a scientist. _**And you.**_ He said to Ethan. _**Come. If you want to see your brother.**_

“Wait.” Sou couldn’t help but to speak. “What are you going to do with him?”  
“He will not hurt or kill him, he promised.” Kamon answered for the man.

Ethan was reluctant to go.

 _  
**We promised that we will bring him back.**   
_

“What are you?” Ethan asked.

 _  
**That is not your concern. Our ride has arrived. Come.**   
_

Unown poured out from the Ruins of Alph. They swarmed this way, creating a dark lugia as they flew across the lands.

The man stood on dark lugia’s back. _**Come. We will meet Hiroki.**_

“You don’t look very trustworthy.” Ethan said, hiding behind Sou who had stood between them.

 _  
**We may be dark. But we are not always harmful. Come. Hiroki will want to see you.**   
_

Ethan shook his head. Sou growled at the man like a houndoom protecting its mate. _Geez, Kamon, what are you plotting, letting this happen to us? Aren’t we family?_ He thought, casting brief, accusing glances at his cousin.

Kamon was in trouble as well. The scientist who took the papers would not let them go, staring at the black words as if in a trance. When finally a grunt slapped him awake, he still refused to hand them over. He kept repeating that it was his now and something about having power.

Brendan lay on the floor next to them. His eyes moved rapidly under closed eyelids, the sign of paradoxical sleep and dreams. His fingers and legs twitched a bit. He seemed to be in a nightmare that he was trying to escape, yet couldn’t even after dying in the dream.

 _A corner._ Ethan suddenly heard. He looked around, but could not see where that was from. He tried to use his ghost vision.

 _A corner. Why is there not an Arceus-damned corner? Even a box could do. There is one from two perpendicularly placed desks, but that one’s blocked by a stupid cage. This ridiculous._

The source of the voice was from another space.

 _Is there a road sign? A road sign could do too. Anything to let me in there._

“Silver, did you heard that?” Ethan asked Sou, the latter too busy confronting the creepy man and his unown to bother with Ethan, simply barked his friend away. Oh great, Ethan thought, I spent three years taming him and in face of danger he still reverts to his old self. So stubborn. And unable to see anything other than his goal. Ethan thought that, yet the breeder was touched that Sou was doing that for him. It meant that Sou considered him family or at least a prized possession.

 _Did he just call that redhead brat Silver? Ethan heard again. He has no rights, that nickname’s taken. Mine should be the only Silver._

 _Hello?_ Ethan tried to broadcast. He was not good at broadcasting, only somewhat good at reading. And even that required attention. This voice, however, was loud enough for him to hear without having to focus.

The broadcast didn’t seemed to reach its intended recipient. The voice continued on. _Really, I’m Gold, so Kamon’s Silver. We are a pair. Nobody else should use our name. Even if it’s my little brother Hibiki, using it to call his boyfriend. Hm, a boyfriend. He’s really like me. And his boyfriend is related to the Rockets too. Arceus must be lazy and just photocopied us. Though my little brother is only cute, not half as handsome as I am._

 _Wait, what?_ Ethan thought. _Was that Hiroki?_

A force lifted Ethan up and towards the dark lugia. He saw Sou and his Feraligatr scrambling to catch him, but failed from the overwhelming number of unown pushing them back. He saw the Rockets dividing into two teams, with Kamon on one side and most scientists on the other. He saw Brendan, his childhood friend, lying on the floor, trapped in nightmares.

And the scenery went black.

Ethan was swallowed whole by the dark lugia.

Before he lost his consciousness, he heard Sou’s voice crying for him. Don’t cry, Ethan wanted to say. Yet before the words could come out, he felt himself falling into darkness.

And then it was nightmares.

There was the sea. There were shadows in the sea. There were voices. A black shadow, from which a hauntingly beautiful voice poured out, swam up to him. It tore him to pieces.

There was the sea. There was nothing in the sea. Not even waves and current. No sky above and no land below. It was cold. The sea was dead. He stayed in the dead sea until his consciousness drifted away.

There was sand. A lot of sand. They came over him in thin layers. He could not move. Slowly he was buried by the sand.

He was dead. His body rotted. Houndours and murkrows ate his flesh and innards. He felt nothing.

It was a dark cave. There was nothing but ghosts around him. It was quiet. The silence of ghosts piled over the silence of the cave and it suffocated him. The sound of bells resonated in the empty room. The silence of thousand ghosts suffocated the bells as well. The room was full, of ghosts and silence, but it was empty. It was a quiet cave.

 _Hibiki._ Ethan heard. _Hibiki. Hibiki. Wake up, Hibiki._ It was the same voice as the one he had heard before he was swallowed by the dark lugia. _These are not your nightmares._

 _Whose nightmares are these?_ Ethan asked.

It still didn’t reach the source of the voice. It did, however, create a disturbance. The dark lugia trembled a bit. A second later it calmed down and the nightmares came back.

It was a tower similar to the Bellsprout Tower, yet the pillar did not shake. The floor was blood red. The chanting of monks could be heard, but no sight of them. There was no wall... There was no real wall around them floor, only a chaos of black and brown. He knew he shouldn’t touch them. There was no way up. There was one way down. He tried to go down.

 _Hibiki. Don’t._

He didn’t go down. The image around him flickered like a TV trying to show two channels at once. Then the chaos went flat. There was nothing but gray.

 _

Hibiki.

_

 _Hibiki._

 _Hibiki. Hibiki._

 _Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki._

 _Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki._

And Ethan was at a riverside. Red flowers bloomed on the other shore. The voice was coming from the water. He looked into the river, yet could only see his own face.

 _Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki. Hibiki._

Another voice was coming from behind him.

 _Ethan. Ethan. Ethan._ It repeated, just like the Hibiki. The first was determined. The second was more unsure and laced with sadness and despair. He recognised the second voice as Sou’s. As the second voice went on, it started to call Ethan Hibiki as well.

Ethan focused.

 _Hiroki._ He heard this time.

Beyond the calling of his own name, there was a third voice, calling for his brother. It repeated itself like a mantra. It was calmer and slower than the other two. Filled with despair. It repeated the name _Hiroki_ like a dead man’s name.

He recognised the third voice as the silence in the nightmares.

 

Kamon was in trouble, but he was not surprised. Most scientists only joined for money. He was not surprised at all when they announced that they wanted to use their new power to build a new Team Rocket.

He laughed as they readied their Poké Balls and readied his own.

What would Hiroki do? He thought from habit. For years he had asked that question before every Pokémon battle because Hiroki was no longer by his side.

He missed the days when he would say ‘Prepare for trouble’ and Hiroki would follow it with ‘And make it double’, despite the fact that Hiroki was never part of Team Rocket.

 _Hiroki._ He called in his heart. _Gold._

 

Ethan thought he had heard another voice calling his brother’s name, but he wasn’t sure. All he knew was that he was calling out to Hiroki himself. And to Sou, to tell him he was still here. And Brendan, to wake him up. And mostly importantly, to Lyra, a call for help.

 

 _Ethan, I am coming._ Lyra thought, riding on top of her dragonite. _But first, I have to help Kamon._

 

“Sou, get a grip of yourself!” Kamon yelled to his cousin. “I have a honchkrow here. I know that you don’t have a flier, so trade any of yours for it and go chase after him. No, leave the Hoenn homosexual here; I’ll take care of him.”

 

The dark lugia landed on an island surrounded by whirlpools, disintegrating as it touched the ground. Ethan fell out from its stomach, body numb and mind in a blur. He could barely tell if he was in reality or in another nightmare. He struggled to stand up. His unfocused sight caught the image of his kidnapper. The man was digging before a headstone.

> Will always
> 
> be remembered
> 
> and loved
> 
> Hiroki of New Bark Town

There was a pair of years below, but the loose soil that was dug up hid it.

The man pulled out a box. A box, not a coffin. It was too long to be the container for ash.

The man opened the box. There was a dried up arm inside and few fragments beside.

 _ **All we have gathered of him.**_ The man said. _**Now, it needs blood.**_

 

 _Now, how do you wake up someone?_ Kamon thought, staring at the Hoenn Champion. For now, the young Rocket Admin had left the fighting to Rockets who were still loyal to the Team. A chronic turncoat like him needed to stay out of the in-fighting as much as he can. And Brendan was, after all, his cousin’s friend by extension, it wouldn’t be good if he died there, right? But Kamon didn’t have any Pokémon with healing moves. He looked at the Brendan’s team. The skitty had Heal Bell, didn’t they? He pressed the button to release them. A scientist tried to attack them with a porygon, but Kamon blocked it with Weavile without looking. Using a psychic type against a dark type specialist? What was that guy thinking? He returned his attention to the pink cat.

“Skitty. Heal Bell.”

The cat Pokémon was unhappy that the handsome stranger didn’t use its nickname. It shook its tail, but produced no sound. Kamon grabbed it and shook it harder. The cat meowed in alarm, to no avail. Impatient, Kamon grabbed the whole cat and hit the unconscious boy’s face with the cat’s tail, oblivious to the Pokémon’s frightened screams. Afraid to be subject to further harm, the terrified Pokémon, short legs kicking in vain, used Heal Bell in attempt to wake its human up. It didn’t work. A grunt who just turned to the scientists’ side tried to attack them. Groaning, Kamon threw the cat on the attacker’s face. It was super effective.

Time to try another Pokémon, Kamon thought, running a hand over his hair. He released another of Brendan’s team. Another skitty, differently coloured this time.

“Skitty, Heal Bell.”

The red cat looked at its kin that was released before it. It was clinging to someone’s face. Its fur was in rather bad shape from all the shaking and pulling.

Kamon pulled the cat’s face to his own. “If you don’t wake him up, I’m going to mess up your fur too. This time with scissors.”

The red cat, horrified, used Heal Bell as hard as it could.

 

Lyra could already see the outline of Goldenrod. A swarm of living creatures surrounded the city. The Champion’s VS Seeker told her that they all wanted to fight. She made a decision.

 

Sou was near the whirlpools. The crow Pokémon carrying him dodged wild gyarados’ Hyper Beam and Twister like a professional: neither Sou nor the Pokémon itself was hit. The boy wondered how often Kamon had to dodge in-coming attacks with his honchkrow. When his older cousin was young, he used to see Pokémon as nothing more than living tools. He would have never have fought with the Pokémon in the same battlefield, contenting only of stay far back, scold and berate everyone that was not himself. Sou was the same, though slightly less sociopathic than his cousin until his father abandoned them all. None of them saw any reason to be kind lest to be let down.

Kamon changed first. One day he declared that he would work with his Pokémon as a team rather than master and slaves. He was holding a worn-out trainer’s belt and Pokédex that day. Now that Sou thought about, it was probably soon after Kamon learned of Hiroki’s fate.

Still, Kamon was only respectful towards his own Pokémon. Other humans and Pokémon were still fair game. He was still as sadistic as ever. Sometimes Sou wondered if Kamon’s selective kindness was mere a pragmatic necessity. Just like how his cousin’s interest in his friends and friends of his friends were probably for sake of data collection rather than concern for his well being. It would not surprise Sou if Kamon started to torture Brendan with the information right after Sou left the Radio Tower, and most likely with Brendan’s own Pokémon too.

As for Sou, it was much more of a change. He could proudly say that he was much less of a douchebag than his cousin. There were humans on the list of those Sou considered as his equals that he would respect. Ethan was one. Brendan wasn’t yet, so for now Kamon could have as much fun as he wanted out of that guy as long as he didn’t kill or handicap the poor coordinator.

 

The ‘Hoenn homosexual’ turned out harder to wake up than Kamon had expected. He clicked the scissors. The skitty, panicking, slapped its trainer’s face. It was super effective. About time.

Brendan woke up with Kamon sitting on him. No, straddling him. With a marker in each hand. Some kind of battle royal was happening around them, but Kamon’s Pokémon kept it at bay. Brendan’s two skitty, Koko and Kiki, were in the safe zone, yet one of them had its fur dirtied and was trying to lick it better. The other one, eyes never leaving Kamon, was guarding it with trembling legs.

“I need some help with the brainwashed puppets that are going to force themselves into this tower. Kindly help me out, will you?” Kamon said with a smile.  
“Why? Because of you, Ethan w- Ackshfoeghtk what are you doing?”  
“I just doodled on your shirt with a washable marker. Now, if you don’t want to be kind, that would be fine. But I will draw on your favourite shirt and hat, not to mention your face, with this waterproof permanent marker.”  
Brendan’s eyes told Kamon that the coordinator had no choice but to comply. Too easy. Coordinators and their vanity. As long as lives were not on the line, impeccable good looks was everything to them.

Kamon grabbed Brendan and jumped off the building.

 _Oh dear_ , Brendan thought as horror invaded his mind, _this is like Sootopolis all over again._

Two meters before touching the ground, a psychic force lightened their fall, enabling them to land on their feet.

“Open your eyes, you fruity sissy.” Kamon barked to Brendan, then turned to the crowd and roared. “And you too, stupid zombies, with will so weak that a little powder could mind-control you. How about you entertain us for a while?” He turned to Brendan again: “Do not let them in the tower. My comrades are busy enough in there trying to get back to these backstabbing traitors.”

 

“What do you mean, that I am a traitor?” Ethan’s kidnapper said with his real voice at the victim’s request. If voice could gather dust, this was under dust many meters deep. It was a voice like dust flowing. It echoed, despite the speaker being under an open sky. It was the echo of many. It was like hundreds whispers that travelled miles and years to reach the listener’s ears, in rags, its flesh dried and bones eroded until all that left was fine needles of bone dust. It was not unpleasant to the ears (after all, it was barely noticeable) as much as it was a scratch on the listener’s soul.  
“The sunglasses.” Ethan said, trying to appear brave, “It had Hiroki’s ‘scent’ on it. There was his ‘scent’ and your ‘scent’ mixed together, lovingly, in the same time frame. He loved and trusted you. Then his ‘scent’ was there no more. You left him. And today you’re the opposite of what he stands for. Hiroki was playful, but he was good. A hero. You created this chaos that ruined lives of many. You are a villain.”  
The man nodded. His face unchanging like a sculpture. “You are a good seer. For your age, at least. I used to be by Hiroki’s side. He was a hero, like you said. He had many exploits. He fought against the original Johto branch of Team Rocket. He didn’t win, but he kept them busy enough that the centre of their power shifted to Kanto before their eventual fall at the hand of a boy who later became a legend of his region.  
“Hiroki was fine with it. He befriended the boy, learned some tricks from him, and returned to Johto. There he found his old rival, who did not what to do after the dissolution of Team Rocket. Hiroki, only 12 at the time, tried unsuccessfully to woo his rival... No, ‘unsuccessful’ would be understatement. It was a catastrophe. His rival pushed him away and tried to run. Hiroki, of course, did not let him run. Hiroki tried to hold his rival down and the rival, in self-defense, nearly killed Hiroki, and in return we threatened to tear the insolent boy to pieces and eat him for lunch. Hiroki was hurt by that. He made a one-side promise to his rival that he’d catch Lugia for him as proof of his sincerity. We weren’t sure that his rival heard that.  
“Hiroki didn’t eat his words. He got close to the Whirlpool Islands on a tour boat and dived into the sea when he thought no one was looking. He had a Silver Wing with him. Lugia reacted to the scent of his kind. We fought very hard. We did not win. Lugia tore him apart. For years I stayed under the dark waves, Hiroki’s fingers clenched on my shelter, never letting go even as the flesh rotted away and was eaten by fish. For years there was only Hiroki’s bodiless arm as the only human presence near me. I had spent 500 years without humans, and it was limbo to me, but that mere five years was like living hell.  
“Because I was attached to that human, that Hiroki. I only wanted to be with him again, or at least someone like him.  
“That was why when that scientist fished me out of there and let me out, and told me about how glorious was his days in Team Rocket’s laboratories, I plotted something nasty but that would surely work.  
“The presence of great evils attract the presence of heroes, am I right?  
“Hiroki will come back if his old enemy came back. He might be too ashamed to see his love, but his nemesis... A hero is nothing without an enemy.  
“I told the scientist that he’ll get his six-digit salary and his old boss back. And I will get my human back.  
“Even if I will have to be his nemesis.”

 

In the middle of battlefield, Brendan took out his make-up kit. Kamon was furious.  
“What are you doing? We are in a middle of a battle and you are doing make-up? If Hoenn trainers are all like you I’m going to kick all their ass, get the title of Champion and conquer the island for fun and profit. And I’m going to ban Pokémon forever, you hear that?”  
When Brendan answered, it was in a tone much more serious than Kamon expected. “You’d have to beat me for that. To be fair, I don’t think you can.”  
“Of course, you and your Champion team. But you’re weak without them, that’s not going to change. You’re weak now.”  
Brendan smiled. “I don’t think so.”

After making sure that he looked good enough, he let out his milotic. In swift movements, like swellow across the sky, he drew strange lines and circles on the sea serpent’s body. When the pattern was complete, it glowed a bit, and the Pokémon let out a low, whale-like growl.

There was an abnormal loud sound of water closing in.

“I don’t have a psychic Pokémon on me.” The Hoenn Champion said to the Rocket Admin. “Please make sure that nobody dies from this, ’kay?”

Kamon noticed the wave looming over them. It was taller than the highest buildings in the city. He reached for Alakazam.

The sea washed over the entire city.

 

A sharp claw cut open Ethan’s skin and collected the drops of blood in a glass vial.  
“What is this for?” The boy asked. “A summoning spell?”  
“No.” The man said. “It’s a raise-dead spell.”  
Ethan’s eyes widened at the words. “But Hiroki isn’t dead, is he? Aren’t we waiting for him to appear?”  
The man looked into Ethan’s eyes. Yellow against blue. Those blue eyes... so different from Hiroki’s.  
“We have waited long enough. If he is still alive, 24 hours would be enough for him to reach us even if he was in Unova. Yet he hasn’t showed up. He must be dead. To revive him, I need parts from what contributed to his death, what loved him and a blood relative of him. The closer the links, the better.”

Ethan took a few steps back. Shook his head. Collapsed. The man could not tell if the boy was crying or laughing.

It made sense now. The Silver Wing was both to make Hiroki believe there was an enemy and as part of what contributed to his death, along with the sea, if his battle with Lugia was what killed him. If it wasn’t to summon Lugia, of course no one went after the Tidal Bell. The sneak attacks on them were attempt to draw his blood, but the first one missed because he was hugging Sou at the time. The man, or whatever he is, must be targeting him because a child born from the same father and mother as Hiroki must be the closest in blood link.

“But you could be wrong.” Ethan said to his kidnapper. “I might not be Hiroki’s brother.”

 

Brendan and Kamon woke up soaked to the bones. Alakazam’s Reflect absorbed half of the blunt impact, but it was enough to knock out a tauros.  
“Geez, Brendan,” Kamon said as he shook the dazzled Hoenn Champion off his leg. “Why couldn’t you just make the Surf less powerful in the beginning.”  
“Can’t help it.” Brendan said as struggled back to his feet. “It’s either not strong enough for all this or like _that_. So I had to pick the latter.”  
“What was the thing you draw on it?” Kamon asked. The pattern was no longer on the milotic, probably washed away. He touched where the lines used to be. No trace of it. The milotic’s skin was surprisingly smooth and pleasant. The muscle under was strong and firm, yet flexible. Both was very elastic. Must feel good to lean on it. A true Coordinator’s Pokémon.  
“Kyogre lines.” Brendan answered. “Boost the special stats of a Pokémon. I’m still having trouble with the formula.”  
“Did you invent it?”  
“Nah. Aura Guardians and other spiritual people had used it for ages, but as simple symbol of faith. I only decided to zest it up by using a substance similar to the Red and Blue Orbs of Mt. Pyre.”  
“They let you study the Orbs?”  
“Champion privileges. And May wanted to study them, so I helped.”

 

“My spell sheets! They are dying!”

The words come from the mouth of the Rocket traitor who held the sheets with moving ink. Méli-Mélo’s Surf caught the fighting Rockets unawares through the opened windows. All the computers had turned themselves off on contact with water as protection. They were really expensive computers. The moving spells, however, was written on ordinary, non-waterproof, cold-pressed handmade recycled paper. The restless words were even more agitated than before, darting this way and that to find a place where they won’t be melted in salt water.

The scientists were weaponless now. Without the computers they could not summon porygon. Without the spells they cannot summon brain-washed trainers and their Pokémon.

Everywhere in Johto, Rocket grunt uniforms came off and turned into puddles of black ink.

“You have lost. Give up already.” Ariana said.  
“You should have stayed loyal to Giovanni. With such an event, he is sure to return this time.” Apollo added.  
“And then all traitors with feel the wrath of Team Rocket and Giovanni.” Proton felt obliged to add, licking his lips.

They did not realise that one of the traitors was gone.

And only too late did they realise that the cage with all the hostages was also gone, along with one of their helicopters.

 

The sea was disturbed again. The clouds gathered and rain started to fall.

“Hey, Mr. Coordinator, this rain doesn’t look normal. Did you make your milotic summon it?”

Méli-Mélo shook its pretty head. Brendan was embarrassed.  
“You see, there was a side-effect of using Kyogre pattern as I did.”  
“Don’t you mean...?”  
“It also summons Kyogre. It must be heading this way now.”

It was already there. Another Surf, much more powerful than the milotic’s, was the one thing heading this way. Inside the Surf was Kyogre, its red lines distorted by constant refraction. It was like a spell written in red ink. In a way, it was exactly that.

A Surf like that could destroy the city.

Kamon readied his alakazam. He knew he could not weaken the Surf enough to avoid significant damage, even less stop it. But he had to try. Wanted to try. He laughed at himself, because his old self would have escaped with Teleport then watched the disaster from afar, mocking the city for being weak. He hadn’t realised until this moment how much he had changed.

“Looks like I’ve become more like you, Hiroki...” He said to himself. “Moron.” He added, insulting both of them at once.

Brendan was readying his Pokémon, too. It was going to be a hell of a last stand for Goldenrod City.

 

“I am not Hiroki’s brother. Or so I have guessed, from what I’ve heard of my family. Had my brother told you about the war?” The man shook his head. Ethan continued. “This is both my story and Hiroki’s story, so listen well.  
“About a generation ago, there was a war that didn’t concern us. But we were part of a country that participated in the war. Many men went to the other side of the ocean, trying to gain the possession of a land they didn’t have the right to for their God-Emperor. My father was part of them. It didn’t went well. The war was lost and the Emperor was dethroned, the country divided itself into multitude of self-governing regions.  
“Following the loss, there were armies from America that landed or docked near Johto and Kanto. They were sent to keep an eye on us, holding us hostage. You see, we might have lost, but we hadn’t surrendered. The war was over, but the War was not over until everyone agreed it was. The men sent to guard us were stronger and taller than us. Many of them were white with pale eyes.  
“And, in war, men...let’s just say that they did not behave the way our morality approved. Many women of my race ended up with child of those foreigners. Not all of them were willing.  
“One or two years later, the war ended. Most of them returned to the land across the ocean, leaving their mixed-blooded children behind.  
“It wasn’t the first time that such thing happened.  
“Some of them stayed though, because they loved this land. Lt.Surge and his friends was part of them. They were very young back then, only in their 30s, and were idealistic. And it paid off. They were accepted and they opened a Gym in the first city they stepped on. They were nice people. Arrogant, but nice.  
“I don’t know what the man who had disturbed my mother’s life was like. Only that he wasn’t part of those who stayed.  
“My father came back home after the war was officially the past. To his wife and his two children. He left home when Hiroki was not even two, and I was not born and that time. When he finally came home, he was at first overjoyed to know that I was born.  
“But when I opened my eyes, he was furious. Then saddened. You see, Hiroki was 100% his flesh and blood. He looked exactly what my race should look like. Small stature, black hair, brown eyes and yellow skin. And a love for local food. But I, blue eyes, white skin and prefered burgers over ramen. I still had the small stature and black hair, but my skeletal structure was different enough from my brother’s. The townfolk, trying to help, told him that I might simply take after my mother, who was quite white by my race’s standard and had hint of blue in her eyes and hair. My body shape looked a bit like hers too.  
“My father did not believe them. He said that she must had another man in his absence, probably one of these white foreigners. Where else could she have learned to make burgers? We used to eat nothing but rice and berries back then. And those bottles of miltank milk, since when did humans drink them? Weren’t they for Pokémon? Why was his wife feeding them to his children? And forks and knives in their kitchen drawers? Where else could she have learned all of them?  
“He loved Hiroki and treated him the way a father would to his son. He taught him Pokémon battles and travels in bicycles. He told him stories and taught him to read. He wrote a notebook full of tips and tricks on how to play and cheat at cards and all the card games he knew for when Hiroki comes of age. Of course, little Hiro read it before the intended date.  
“I was met with cold glares. I guess he never believed I could be his child. Mother tried to love me, but there were already too many things on her mind.  
“I spent most of my earlier memories gazing at an abandoned port. There were many children there. All of them had blue or green eyes and relatively white skin. I remember asking them what they were looking for and they said ‘Daddy’. I used to wait with them, hoping that my real father would come and love me. He never came. None of the children’s fathers came.  
“Because my mother was forbidden to leave home by my father, my grandparents were the one who fed and dressed me. No matter who my father was, I was still their grandson, they told me. When the sun was hot they would wait with me by my side, holding a parasol over us, chatted with us and fed us ice pops. We did not have much food back then, so the ice pops were plain or with tiny bit of salt or sugar added. When we were lucky we got fruit juice mixed in them, usually watermelon. Hiroki used to come see us for these ice pops. He would take one and leave, never willing to spend time with us because it was boring. Occasionally he would take two.  
“Then one day my brother learned that big brothers should be kind to their young siblings. He found me at the beach and dragged me all the way to his school. There he spotted a girl of my age, who went by the name of Kotone back then. He put our hands together and declared us friends. ‘After all, the most important thing is to get a good friend,’ he said. And she is still my best friend.  
“My father, after a particularly intense argument with my mother, left us again. My brother poured out even more brotherly love onto me. He then taught me everything our father taught him, but not enough that I could win in a game against him. He was a good brother. When he left for his journey he left me a stack of notes, some written by him and some from father to him, so I could learn all that he hadn’t taught me.  
“Then he left for his journey, not to became a Pokémon master as the adults encouraged us to, but to have an adventure and become someone, someone with more value and fame than a common town boy.  
“And his departure broke mother’s heart. I became the only family member staying with her. She encouraged me to stay in town, doing only small trips around, but never go far.  
“When I got my first Pokémon, a marill, I did not go on a journey. I stayed and became Prof. Elm’s aide. It was a satisfying experience.  
“But Kotone, with her first Pokémon, embarked on a journey. She assumed a new name like every child nowadays and aimed for the Leagues. We were estranged because of that.  
“Still, I am not alone. I have many friends, including...”  
“The one right behind you.” Said Sou as Kamon’s honchkrow delivered a critical Night Slash on Ethan’s kidnapper’s back. “Good job using your ability to talk non-stop to signal where you are, Ethan. And distracting my target with it.”

 

In Goldenrod City, a figure landed on top of a skyscraper near the sea. Six Pokémon appeared by its side.

“Hextuple Finish!” The silhouette screamed. It was a female voice, hot and strong like sun-heated steel. Johto knew that voice.

A powerful combo of six attacks hit the massive Surf threatening the coastal city. The titanic wave wavered, but did not stop.

Brendan and Kamon changed their Pokémon to attack position and ordered to do the same. All trainers who were conscious and with usable Pokémon joined in. The wave of attacks grew close to the intensity of Kyogre’s Surf and pushed it back, before taking it apart completely, revealing Kyogre beneath. The sea beast continued its way to the City, unhindered by any obstacle. It hurled itself onto the land.

Then it was beached. It flapped its giant fins in vain. It tried to call the sea to it, but with its fins outside the water, it was only able to fan water away. It was quite cute in a pathetic way.

“Is that even serious?” Kamon gasped.  
Brendan shrugged. “It is a powerful beast, but doesn’t mean it’s bright. Actually, there’s no way that a creature that does nothing but eat, fight and sleep be anything close to smart.”  
“What about Lugia?” He started to feel his regional legend’s image threatened as well.  
“Lugia is psychic. That makes the argument invalid.”

Kamon breathed a sigh of relief. No way he wanted to be associated with a region where legendary Pokémon were mere powerful idiots.

Brendan and Kamon looked at the person who lead the salvation of the city. She had recalled most of her Pokémon, leaving only a dragonite out. She hopped onto its back and flew down towards them. Her familiar face beamed at them.

Lyra.

The first thing that the boys noticed about her was that, beside a lacy white brief, she was not wearing anything else. The second thing was that her dragonite was so exhausted that she would have to call it back as soon as she landed. The third was that the ground was laced with pointy shards of glass, metal and rocks.

"Lyra, wait! Wear some shoes before coming off!"  
"Geez, Lyra, why didn't you wear goggles and helmets? It’s basic safety! And wear a bra, Lyra! Your nipples could get damaged!"

All of them turned to the one who mentioned nipples. "Points taken." Lyra said as she reached for her bag. She took out a extra-comfort chest-band, wrapped around her breasts and buttoned on the front. She put on a pair of goggles and a pairs of ladies' sport sandals. “All set?”

“Wait.” Kamon objected. “You don’t have a flier anymore and neither do I.”  
“Don’t be a pussy, we’ll just Surf our way there.”  
“And you are still not fashionable enough.” Brendan said, already holding a lady’s sports set in his hands.

Lyra mentally made note to make the League watch for the pseudo-estrogen pollution and make a ban on plastic. Where were all the men who can fight Pokémon bare-handed when you need them? Then again, they probably were Darwin Award winners, hence their rarity.

She called out her feraligatr and rode it to the sea. It ran over Kyogre’s back in the process. The whale didn’t feel it enough to be outraged. Once in water, Lyra stood on her alligator Pokémon’s back, a katana in each hand, slashing away all water Pokémon who dared to stand in her way. The very caricature of a manly Champion, if you ignore her feminine curves.

Brendan chased after her on his flygon, still trying to make her wear something over her underwear. Kamon followed them on his own feraligatr in safety, thanks to Lyra and Brendan clearing the path for him. It was even more absurd than his “adventures” with Gold. At least Hiroki didn’t stab his opponents to submission with his pool cue. There were playing cards and pool balls involved, and maybe few bombs and TNT, but back then people still fought Pokémon with Pokémon. Not katanas. And didn’t argue over fashion as they did so.

 

The young man, struck with dark energy, faltered a bit. Then its entire body started to flicker. Green eyes grew over its body, then closed one by one till only two were left. Then the yellow pupils of these two eyes closed, leaving them a homogeneous green. A black whirl appeared in its left eye. Its feet were a cracked stone and the rest, a vortex of purple light. Yellow-green orbs floated in them like candles of Ghost Festival night.

Ethan’s Pokédex came to life.

SPIRITOMB. THE FORBIDDEN POKEMON. IT WAS FORMED BY UNITING 108 SPIRITS. IT HAS BEEN BOUND TO THE ODD KEYSTONE TO KEEP IT FROM DOING ANY MISCHIEF.

“A ghost then? Yet the Night Slash wasn’t super effective...” Sou remarked.  
“It’s a dual type of dark and ghost.” Ethan read. “All types cam only deal normal damage to it, except normal, fighting and psychic, to which it is immune, and poison, which it resists.”  
“Can we capture it?”  
“No, the Pokédex reads this one as already belonging to someone. But the Poké Ball binding it must be damaged, as the reading is ambiguous and the trainer number cannot be obtained.”

 _  
**It was impolite of you to speak of me as a mere tool to obtain and pass around.**   
_

“Sorry about that, but I don’t have any respect for you left after you kidnapped Ethan and hurt him.” Sou said as he ordered for more attacks.

 _  
**Then excuse me for protecting myself.**   
_

A Shockwave swept the area, catching Kamon’s honchkrow and Sou in surprise. It was super effective to the bird, yet it remained in air.

 _  
**Kamon trained you well, Krow. We should fight again as in old days, Gold against Silver, Sun against Moon.**   
_

Krow threw back what it seemed like a volley of insults in Honchkrow and countered with Payback.

 _ **Bird food? I don’t think so.**_ It sent another Shockwave.

Krow used Protect and dropped Sou next to Ethan. It then charged towards spiritomb.

“Krow, Frustration!”

Krow ignored the command. Instead, it used Thief, removing the sunglasses spiritomb was holding its human form. Then appeared to be in fact Blackglasses, an held item that empowered dark type moves.

 _  
**Give them back. Hiroki gave me these.**   
_

With Blackglasses equipped, Krow launched Night Slash after Night Slash at spiritomb, healing itself and resisting Shockwave with Roost whenever its health was critical, ignoring Sou throughout.

“How did you survive that Shockwave? It looked it was a critical hit, yet it wasn’t.” Ethan asked.  
Sou pointed at his hat, which grew an eye and blinked at Ethan. “Lucky Chant. No critical hits when it is in effect.”

After a pause, the spiritomb released a much stronger Shockwave, knocking out Krow.

“That was Nasty Plot.” Ethan read from his Pokédex. “Increases Special Attack by two stages.”  
“Damn it. All my Pokémon are disrupt-attack focused. Weavile!” Sou called out the sharp claw Pokémon. “First, do not let it use the same move over and over again: Torment!”

When it was done, Weavile threw a Mud-slap onto spiritomb to reduce its accuracy. Then it used Icy Wind to reduce speed. The it Honed Claws and lashed at the forbidden Pokémon with claws of shadow and steel.

But before spiritomb could be defeated, Weavile tired out. Its claws no longer had power in them.

“That was Spite. Reduce PP from moves.” Ethan read.  
“Can’t you tell me about them earlier? Why do you only tell me after my Pokémon lose?”  
“Sorry. I’m bad at reading moves.”  
“What kind of trainer are you?”  
“Not Champion material. Only veterans like Red, Green or Lyra can read moves as soon as a Pokémon was preparing for them.”  
Sou groaned. “If you wanted to call me weak, just say so.”  
“I’m not!”  
“Weavile, come back! Magneton, your turn!”

Magneton opened with Thunder Wave. It paralysed spiritomb, letting the magnet Pokémon attack more often. Discharge kept the foe paralysed while Mirror Shot lowered accuracy. When it was getting low on electricity, Sou called it back.

“Feraligatr, your t-”

 _  
**That’s it. I am no longer playing with you.**   
_

Before he could release his aligator Pokémon, spiritomb appeared near them and attacked Sou’s Poké Balls. The buttons jammed. They could no longer be released until repaired.

“Ethan! What are you waiting for? Yours can still fight!”  
“But they are only level 40!”

That was not even enough for Battle Frontier. The spiritomb was at least level 50, possibly over 60, and had no type weakness. Sending in a level 40 could be suicide.

“I’ll control them! Just send one in!”  
“O-okay. Mareep, c-”

 _  
**Let’s make it simple, should we?**   
_

Before Ethan could send Mareep in, spiritomb jammed his Poké Balls as well.

 _  
**You trainers are useless without Pokémon.**   
_

Sou looked like if he wanted to kill Ethan.

Once again in human form, the spiritomb drew a purification circle to recover its wounds. With a spell it bound Sou and with another, Ethan.

 _  
**Now, give me more blood. Hibiki.**   
_

>Don’t you dare.  
A vulpix with golden fur jumped out from the box that held Hiroki’s arm. In a bound it placed itself between the spiritomb and Ethan. The humans recognised it as the same gold vulpix in the Goldenrod City.

 _Stop it. Shaper._

The spiritomb paused.

 _  
**How do you know my name?**   
_

_Because I gave it to you._

Shaper paused even more. Its human face was rigid, but underneath it was surprised, even horrified.

 _  
**Hiroki? No, you cannot be. If you were, you would...**   
_

Then the realisation dawned on it. The face under its human skin twisted and warped.

 _Skinwalkers and Pokémon who are not acting under a trainer are only allowed to interfere with matters of their own territory. I have no land to call my own, thus I cannot act anywhere. This is a limited case as family counts as ‘territory’._

The light of Shaper’s aura darkened, then blasted with rage.

 _  
**Then I have no further use of you. I joined your team because I wanted to have a life other than being a mere rock. Now because of your one bad decision none of us can have our wish. Such foolishness, challenging a legend. I will have my own Hiroki, one that will not disappoint me.**   
_

_You’re mad. Stop this nonsense._

And you’re a Pokémon now. I am allowed to kill you if I want. And you, the fire-head boy. Do not forget that if a human try to fight a Pokémon with any sort of weapon, we have the right to extract a toll with our claws and fangs.

 _  
**And you, Hiroki of New Bark Town. You happen to wear the skin of a vulpix. Keep in mind that a vulpix’s lifespan is shorter than that of a human’s, and a ninetales’, much, much longer. As long as you wear the skin of a Pokémon, you will not be able to live with a human as an equal. One will always outlive the other. No hope of growing old hand in hand. Ever.**   
_

The vulpix claiming to be Hiroki laughed. It was a fox-laugh, eep eep eep...

 _  
**I don’t think that much about the future, you know that. I just want be able to sleep with my redhead pretty boy and get over it. I’m a bad lover. I don’t stay attached to a person that way. Mr. Silver Eyes will be my rival again once I get my fill of pleasure and I will want nothing more than outlive him and his children, if he get any, and make their life as interesting as I can imagine.**   
_

_**Such a hound.**_ Shaper said in disgust.

 _That’s more him. I’m a fox. He’s the houndoom. So hot it burns. He can ride me anytime as fierce as he wants._

 _ **You’ve stooped so low.** / _Was the only words Shaper managed to say before ignoring him and resuming his spell. He took out a cylindric container from under a rock. It turned its lid once and its content’s temperature changed from cold to warm. Then it poured it out. Blood.__

 _  
_Kamon’s blood?_   
_

_**Blood of lover.**_ Shaper confirmed.

It then added Ethan’s blood. _**Blood of brother.**_

Then a fragment of itself. _**Flesh of servant.**_

 _  
**Onto the bones of the departed. Back to this world, lost soul.**   
_

 

The unown floating above them echoed the last words. Crystals grew like frost around the remains and pink flesh started to emerge and multiply. At first they were nothing but lumps of foetal-like flesh, with a black dot on each. Then unown inserted themselves into in the black dots, melting them, fusing the lumps of flesh into a more humanoid shape. Stones, soil and crystals were drawn into the mass of flesh, morphing into missing bones and organs, always supported by the unown.

Shaper held the Silver Wing to the sky.

 _  
**Your enemy is here. Lost soul, come and vanquish it.**   
_

_Hey, I’m still here. Not lost or anything._

Shaper glared at the vulpix.

 _  
**And your memory is inside the bones, and in the very air, cradling you like a song.**   
_

_Whatever you want. But if that Rocket-standard stealth helicopter lands, you think it’ll shake your creepy meat doll apart?_

Helicopter?

 _You never pay attention, do you?_

“My psywave reader said you saw me from afar.”

The helicopter landed and revealed itself, its camouflage shield distorting and fading. A bespectacled man in lab coat stepped out, carrying a pile of notebooks in one hand and a special device in another.

“Don’t mind me. I’m here to collect some samples. I’ll be gone as soon as I’m done.”’

 _Oh? What kind of collector keeps humans in a cage?_

They looked into the helicopter. From the opened door, a cage was visible. It contained the hostages at Goldenrod Radio Tower.

“The smart kind, of course.” The lab coat guy laughed. “Unlike some who merely bluff, I might actually kill them to save my ass. Now just let me collect samples. I need several different ones, so I’ll be waiting here for them to show up. Don’t have to mind me. If you don’t like the idea of collecting Pokémon like mere items, you can go free them after I sell them if you want. This way, I get money and you get your rightfulness.”

 _Pokémon?_

“Unown. They don’t have much of a mind anyway.”


	4. -

**Part 4**

 _Anyway. The spell is going to take a while, isn’t it? And unown will swarm until it is completed. Makes everyone happy. Is that what you think? Well, Shaper, either you’re a very efficient villain or a very dumb Knight on stupidity. Or maybe you’re just a chaotic true neutral who screws over everyone for fun. But seeing that your signature move is Nasty Plot, I hope it’s because you’re a great villain. I should trade you over to Kamon so everyone could be more efficient._

 _  
**What are you getting at, you noisy fox news?**   
_

_Hey! I’m not right wing! And vulpix channel was fun. I liked the animation marathons. Even though the dubbing could be weird. You see, the lab coat guy here..._

“Gideon. You can call me if you have jobs to be done and can pay well.” The lab coat guy said while readying unown traps.

 _Gideon. Right. Gideon is probably going to sell the unown to Team Rocket or any other villainous organisation because they pay the highest._

“You’re pretty right. Ten thousand per stack of 60, actually. Feel free to pay higher.”

 _Then Team Rocket is going to use them to economise in their budget for world domination. Since Team Rocket always uses the method for fastest profit instead of long term advantage, it’s going to screw everyone over._

“You know the dark-type fur you used for protection against mind control last night? We have tons in storage. If you need them to fight against evil and the League no longer has them in stock, I can sell them to you cheap. Just don’t say that I did it.”

 _You got much more into business than before, you know that?_

“I got something I want recently. Need to make money fast before it’s gone.”

 _  
**Just get to the point.**   
_

_Right, Right. Your homemade me there. Since my soul is right here, it’s going to need a random soul. You picked a place near the graveyard of Whirlpool Island War, so having one is not the problem. The problem is the quality. How are you going to know that you’ll get a right one? You’ll try them one by one, or just plain mash them together that it makes more of a spiritomb soul than a human soul, but whatever works, right?_

 _  
**Just get to the point.**   
_

_You’ll never get what you want if you don’t know how to work with what you already have. That’s it, I have to get going. Move out of the way please. I need to get to the box. Need corners, you see._

Shaper smashed the box before the vulpix could get to it. _**Just what exactly did you try to achieve there?**_

 _Do you know why Pokémon need to team up with human in order to use their power to full potential?_

 _  
**Because Pokémon are dumb and humans are smart? That’s stereotype, you know it.**   
_

_No, because no matter how smart you guys have attention problems. If I can grow eyes at will, I’m not going to have all of them look at the same square foot of scenery before me and only listen to sounds coming from there._

 _  
**What?**   
_

_Look behind you._

Sou and Ethan had already broke their restraints and ran away.

 _Suck it, dumb rock! Said the vulpix before running off as well._

Shaper was speechless. Falling into the same trap again. Over five thousand years and still falling for the same trap. They were sealed in a rock in the first place because they were paying attention to the strange monk chanting instead of fight or escape. Before they knew they were in a rock. Even before that, they became spirits because they were busy listening to two women’s banter when their experiment was on the fire and it blew up. If they still fell for the same trap again, they swore, they would write their name backwards.

Hiroki’s brother was already in sight. He and his friend seemed to be struggling to get their Poké Balls open so they could get off the island. A bit more blood and just one soul would complete the new Hiroki...

A katana flew past the spiritomb, burying itself into a rock.  
The being who threw it was a barely dressed young female. The Champion of Indigo and Caller of Ho-Oh, Lyra.

“Yo. Would you please get your ectoplasmic hand off my best friends? I’m a quite violent person and am afraid that I will hurt you if you don’t comply.”

Shaper laughed. Or the closest thing to laughter it was capable of. The human had just broke the ancient pact and aimed a sword at a Pokémon. It made her an outlaw, giving the children of Mew the right to attack her directly without fear from divine punishment.

He pulled the katana out and pointed it at her.

“Are you challenging me? Fairly well, then I will fight you for the rights to these two.”  
“Can you please not use us as gambling tokens again?” Sou snarked. He had heard that women used to be treated as objects by men, but for as long as he could remember, everyone treated everyone as objects. Still, it was not a happy feeling when a best friend did that.

Shaper held the kataka with one hand and extended the other. Lyra nodded and threw him the scabbard. He caught it, wore it by his waist and changed stance. He was ready to fight.

Lyra attacked first. Holding the single-edged sword with both hands, she dashed at Shaper, keeping the sword close for defense. When she was close enough, she spanned her body, using the centrifugal force to strengthen her blow. Shape blocked it effortlessly. From his face, she could tell it was not as strong as he thought. She turned the katana out from the block, stepped to the side and stabbed towards Shaper. He blocked the blow sideways, towards his right so the aim would be as away from his heart as possible. Not that he still has one, but the location was where his ghostly aura was focused while in human form. Surprisingly, this time it was much stronger than the last and, instead of a simple resist-and-dodge, she leapt and used his block as support, stepping on his hands as she jumped over his right shoulder, face and sword downwards, leaving a cut that would have rendered his right arm useless if he wasn’t a ghost.

“Oh, I forgot. Normal attacks won’t work on ghosts. How silly of me. Teehee.”

Shaper wasn’t so sure anymore. Was she hustling? Or just birdbrained? She should try to finish the battle as fast as possible, not gradually show off her skills. What he knew was that he better finish the battle before she got serious. With that in mind, he went to the offensive. A stab, quicker than the eyes could see.

Lyra didn’t need to see. She dodged before the sword was even accelerated, as if she could sense his intent. On his second try, he tried to do with the inertia of the first, with more reflex than intent. This time she blocked it. It was like hitting a slab of reinforced steel. Shaper’s sword was dented from the impact, yet Lyra’s was intact. Did she throw the weaker sword of the two towards him before the battle, knowing that he would pick it up and challenge her with it? It would matter if it ended here. He side-stepped, got into a cut stance and kicked her leg without thinking. She apparently didn’t expect him to attack with something other than the katana. The blow connected, bringing her down to her knees. Shaper smiled. He wrapped the sword with his aura and delivered a blow slower but much stronger at her, aimed at her throat, not to kill but to submit.

The sword did not even get close to Lyra’s throat. Instead, a sword was pressed against him. It went through his human form, the tip stopping a millimeter before the crack of his keystone. The Champion was holding her sword with only one hand. In the other, she held a scabbard, possibly the scabbard of the sword in her other hand. She had caught and stopped his sword with the scabbard.

“They say that the scabbard is the swordsman’s life, don’t they? Looks it like does save lives. I win.”

Shaper let go of his sword. She nodded her head in thanks and waited for Brendan to catch up with her bag. She put the dented katana back into the bag and kept the good one out. And, with a smile, she climbed onto a nearby rock to do a victory pose.

Ethan tried to warn her of her newly broken leg. He was too stressed to word it and Sou only had the time to yell a short “Careful!” Before both ran towards her to catch her.

Alas, it was all in vain. Lyra fell right on top of Ethan, her crotch on his jaw. Hm, so the pattern was white roses, he noticed before feeling the pain.  
"Ethan? Are you alright?"  
"Augh tfink augh mm?"  
"Your jaw! Here, I'll fix it."

Crack. Expertly done as always. He could still remember the first time she accidentally broke his jaw, with a heavy bug net's handle, and attempted to repair it like how they did it on TV. It didn't go very well and something broke, but she got better with practice and nowadays she was professional at fixing dislocations.

"Yes, I'm really fine now. Thank you Lyra."  
"Nah, I was the one who broke it first."

Really, the only other person who had dislocated any part of his body was Sou during his tsuntsun fit. Like, twice. All the ninety-either other times were Lyra. He loved her anyway.

“Thanks for coming for us, Lyra.”  
“Ahohoho! A princess must always save the princes!”

It sounded seriously wrong in the boys’ ears. Then they thought about it. They have never read bedtime stories for girls, so it was entirely possible that while the boys’ version had the prince save the princess, the girls’ version had the princess save the prince so every child could grow up strong as brave. Then again, maybe it was just Lyra’s dad who was weird. Or just Lyra.

“So, can we go now? I’m hungry and I’m all dirty with sweat and dust and I could use a shower and some beauty sleep...”  
“Shut up, Brendan. You’re growing into a metrosexual.”  
“Is that even supposed to be offensive?”

You shouldn’t be thinking of leaving if you still call yourselves heroes.

The unown were accumulating. They never stopped arriving. Only the sky near the horizon was free of unown. The rest were like a mess of text written by a blind, over and over again on the same page without regard to space.

Gideon startled them by suddenly speaking. “Looks like I better think of leaving. You can have the hostage back now. I’ll throw you the keys... Eh?”  
“No need for the keys. We are already out!”

Eusine, Morty and the trainer couple were standing by the helicopter’s door.  
“Eusine, the Mystery Man, cannot be bound by mere ropes and cuffs! No cages can hold him and no doors stay locked.”

Morty resisted the urge to complain about the time taken to actually get out.

“Well...” Gideon scratched his head. “Then I guess I can keep the keys. See you guys, I’m outta here.”

Gideon considered teleporting away, leaving the helicopter behind. It wasn’t his to begin with anyway. It was Rocket’s. He called out his old porygon, who was with him since the time Rocket was still big stuff. For some reason, new porygon could not learn Teleport anymore. What was Silph.co trying to achieve by that? An artificial Pokémon for use in space exploration that cannot teleport back? What were they thinking? Anyway, time to get some rest and get rich.

“Telep-”  
“Hold it right there, you traitor!”

An eevee with silver fur tackled the porygon, knocking it out.

“Hiroki? Ah, no, it’s the poor guy who go left behind. I didn’t know Hiroki let you use his little treasure. Isn’t that a rare Pokémon from Bill, given to little ‘Hiro’ when he helped him fend off Team Rocket from stealing his breeding population of Pokémon collection? I remember you throwing a fit over the fact that Bill merely let you borrow his umbreon, yet rewarded Hiroki with a shiny eevee. You tried to steal the umbreon, yet it ran back to its master as soon as you let it out. You were so weak back then. You could have stolen the Earth Badge to control them better. Yet you didn’t, insisting on growing capable to control them yourself, without help from badges or others. And you did it. It was this spirit that made you an Admin. You almost made to the position of heir. Yet Giovanni has a direct descendant, so you were only the runner-up. Don’t you want to be the leader?”  
“If you are trying to turn me against Sou, it’s not happening. Only Sou himself can make me turn against him. Now what you got there, eh? More ‘profit’?”  
“You know me, dear ‘boy’. Team Rocket, who has ample money, is always in need of tools for world domination. I always need money and have skills to get tools for world domination. Simple logic dictates that I can get the money I want by giving them the tools I want.”  
“Why don’t you just skip a step and conquer the world yourself? You’ll get money that way too.”  
“Oh no. I’m not very compatible with power. It’s troublesome. It’s hard to get and even harder to keep. I’m not sure if I can keep it long enough to get money, but Team Rocket can. You know what? I’ll tell you the same thing I told Red in the Sevii Islands. I sell the stuff and you get it back later if you want.”  
“But Team Rocket isn’t Red’s! It is my family’s!”  
Gideon thought about that. Another detail he had overlooked. Just change the subject might work. “Arceus in His Heaven, All’s right in the world. Just watch the show-” He gestured the sky. “-and get the ‘tools’ back after this when you get back to the base. You’re an Admin. You have access to them. You can even use them for your personal pleasures if you want.”  
“Watch? What’s to watch? The sky full of unowns? Are you going to find constellations in them? Are they going to suddenly wear some pink tutus and do a ballet number?” Kamon laughed at him.  
“Eeep! Eeee! Eeevui!” Eevee agreed with Kamon.

Gideon pointed behind them. A voice came from there.  
"Eevee? It hasn't evolved. Oh, you gave it an everstone. Why restrict its evolution? Heh... is it my name on the stone? You kept them close to you. Do you love me back? I love you still..."  
"Who's there?"  
"You don't recognise me?"

The corpse stood up. It wasn't like a stringed marionette, but like a living human being. With one hand it brushed away the illusion of death. Him.

"Hiroki."  
"Good seeing you again, my old rival Kamon."

It was wrong. That cannot be Hiroki, Kamon thought. It looked like Hiroki, but something in Kamon told him that it wasn’t. Its soul wasn’t right. Hiroki had a soul like wildfire. That thing doesn’t even have a soul, and if it did, it was like a black hole.

‘Hiroki’ walked towards Kamon. Every step, there was a scream that seemed to have slipped through from another dimension. Unowns leaked from his body and floated up like black bubbles. They stayed under the clouds, darkening the sky. Black and white, from afar they looked like noise on an analog TV. In fact, they gave the impression that if you gave them a signal, they would form an image. An object. A living being if it wanted to.

“This body is still unstable.” ‘Hiroki’ said. “I need souls. Many of them, if there is not a soul that belonged to me. Now give me a soul. How about yours, Kamon?”

‘Hiroki’ gained speed in its pace while Kamon stepped back to avoid its touch.

“What is wrong? Are you scared of me? I am from the flesh and memory of the same Hiroki who had travelled with you. Don’t you remember? I cleaned and bandaged your wounds when you were hurt. I picked the lock to your prison when Proton locked you there for punishment. We explored the Burnt Tower together and when I fell into a hole you didn’t catch me, instead scolded me for accomplishing nothing in falling down. We caught buglers and used the reward money to buy snacks. I taught you how to play card games, pool and do tricks on a skateboard, and you taught me how to make smoke bombs, pipe bombs and Molotov cocktail. We hustled for money in casinos until we were kicked out for cheating. When thugs wanted to hurt us, we fought as a team against them, only to fight each other when they were all defeated.  
“I loved you. My first kiss was given to you. I would love to merge with you.”  
Kamon swallowed. “You can’t possibly be him.”  
“Why is that? Do I not have the memory known only to us two? Do I-”  
“Memories are not what makes a person. Hiro didn’t acted like that. He never reminded me, not even once, of the goods he did to me. He never cared about good or bad. He was all about having fun, a true hedonist, and as long as he had fun nothing else mattered. Not even his own life.  
“And wooing me, or anyone, with soft half-lies and reminiscence of the past was never fun to him. He was the kind of person who like to chase or be chased, save damsels and fight evils.”  
“Evil, isn’t it...?” The not-Hiroki mumbled, shape melting a little. “Then shouldn’t we fight?”

The not-Hiroki charged at him. A pool cue materialised in his hands and a skateboard under his feet. He wielded the pool cue like a rapier, and when it grazed past Kamon’s face, the redhead noticed that it was indeed sharp as a rapier and possibly stiff as an estoc.

“Nice reflex.” Not-Hiroki taunted.  
“You too.” Kamon answered with a forced grin.

Kamon grabbed the pool cue with gloved hands. It was like grabbing a sharpedo, threatening to cut its way through with teeth-like rough skin. Then, with a dry crack, the pool cue snapped in half.

“Nice strength.” Not-Hiroki commented. “But you cannot disarm me as long as I am conscious.”

The pool cue recovered.

“I’m not trying to disarm you.” Kamon replied, smiling like a shark now. “I’m just trying to get a weapon.”

The half-cue in Kamon’s hands flickered, as if there was interference in the signals keeping its form, and turned into two pistols.

“That was just more unown, wasn’t it? They are but living tools, bending to the will of anyone capable of using them.”

The pistols briefly flickered into unown and flickered back.

“Hiroki’s brother. You are a breeder, aren’t you? Read me the nature of these and tell me what type of Hidden Power they have.”  
“A-alright. Um, the ‘K’ is Electric-type, the ‘A’ is Ice, ‘G’ is Fire and ‘T’ is Psychic.”  
“What a messed up type pool.” Kamon sighed. “But they still have the materialising power, don’t they? That should be good.”

Kamon shot at not-Hiroki, who lifted the skateboard to use as a shield. The bullets shattered in blooming frost and burn marks.

“That w-”  
“Behind you, impostor idiot.”

Not-Hiroki, without looking back, thrusted the pool cue backwards. It hit a Substitute that vanished on contact. Before he could smile, a nidoking burst from the ground below, knocking him into the air. Before he could understand, a Wing Attack hit him in the shoulders, nearly cutting his arms off. In the corner of his eyes he saw bat wings.

“I said you were an idiot, aren’t you?”

Nidoking’s Horn Attack pierced not-Hiroki in the chest. It then shook him off to the ground and Stomped on for good measure. It disliked him. Him smelled nothing like anything it knew. Its instincts told him that he was not a child of Mew or Arceus. A complete stranger.

Look out. It’s not down yet.

Neither the nidoking or the intended recipient heard the message. The nidoking felt the trouble first. The thing under its foot was... invading it? It screamed in horror, first trying to stomp or shake the thing off. It wouldn’t let go. It clung to the nidoking, consuming it very slowly, without inducing pain, yet the nidoking felt its presence creeping into its body and stealing away its flesh. Its human tried to calm it down or asked it what was wrong, the nidoking wasn’t sure. It was only sure that the thing that was on its foot, no, on its leg to up its knee, was hostile to its existence. In panic, the nidoking crunched its own leg off.

“Nidoking, come back!”

The severed leg twitched like an insect leg. Black spells crawled over it like murkrow over a carcass. It then bent into the fake Hiroki’s body, healing it.

“Ah...” The fake Hiroki moaned in pleasure. “Some real flesh does do wonder. But I still need the soul. The Islands seem to have some leftover souls... ghostly fragments from over 150 years ago. Not as binding as a living soul, but should keep me in one piece long enough to get one. Don’t you think so?”  
“Are you saying that I should care about dead souls?” Kamon barked back.  
“Weren’t some of them your ancestors?”  
“Oh please. As long as they weren’t part of me you can eat whatever you want.”  
“Too bad. It is yours I want. Because I love you.”  
“My Hiro wasn’t a yandere!”  
“Oh my. I almost forgot that you read manga porn. Do you still have them? I want to take a look.”  
“It wasn’t porn! Just fanservice! And so what? You used to read BL! While underage too!”  
“I didn’t read that! It was Kris’s! Who got it from a female friend of hers.”

Kamon took a deep breath. He was starting to treat this imposter as Hiroki when every part of him knew that he wasn’t.

The fake Hiroki took a deep breath too. If Kamon could see spirits, he would see faint fragments of souls raising from the ground and the sea to merge into the impostor Hiroki. Morty and Ethan certainly saw them.

Morty searched for Pokémon to use. No wild ghost Pokémon could be found nearby and their Poké Balls were way too far to be reached, back in the Radio Tower of Goldenrod. He noticed Sou’s Mismagius and Gengar, hidden as Sou’s hat and shadow. Why wasn’t the boy using them? Lyra’s Pokémon were all exhausted, which was probably why she had to fight by herself. Her clothes must have been used for substitute tricks. She had used it often since Eusine taught her that. Ethan and Sou’s Poké Balls were all jammed and Sou was trying to repair them. Brendan wasn’t much of a fighter according to what Ethan told him.

“Eusine?”  
“Yes?”  
“Try searching the helicopter. There could be a porygon there.”  
“Roger.”

The trainer couple joined as well. There was no porygon, but there was a spell sheet, filled with souls of baltoy, struggling like a swarm of goldeen trapped in a tank too small. There was a note attached. “These are the failed initial attempts. The spiritomb told us to discard them, but I figured that someone like Morty can probably recycle them in to ghosts or simply lead them to the next plane, whatever it is. As for the payment, once I have confirmed that they were recycled, I will take it from your bank account myself. -G.  
P.S.:Don’t worry about your Pokémon. Without Giovanni, we have no means to use stolen Pokémon. Just check on the Internet, we’ll sell them eventually.”

“Well, isn’t that just nice.” Eusine said with sarcasm. At least it’s better than nothing. “Morty?”  
“I guess I have no choice.” Morty sighed, let the piece of paper float before him and concentrated.

The ink-bound baltoy souls slowed in their movement and started to burn. Blue flames consumed the sheet as the souls raised in wisps of smoke. Most wisps turned into sparks and disappeared. Few of them, however, grew darker and stronger, until they took a form that resembled some charcoal coloured, horned teru teru bozu.

“Shuppet. I choose you.”

The shuppet floated around the doppel-Hiroki, competing against him in feeding on the spirit fragments. Soon the small group of shuppet became banette. The doppelganger of Hiroki glared at them. Displeased, he honed his pool cue and used Night Slash against them. Illusions. The ghosts have used Double Team.

“Damn it.” doppel-Hiroki cursed.

Eusine grinned, stuck his tongue out at him and waved a few used TM disks. He then passed them through a portable recycle machine, porygon patterned.

Before doppel-Hiroki could curse him, the ground shook and an onix took him by surprise. The unnamed girl trainer with Morty and Eusine cheered at her Pokémon. Once fake-Hiroki was bound by the stone snake, the girl trainer’s boyfriend called out his cloyster, freezing him in place.

“Fools. I can consume anything.” The not-Hiroki said.

The ink-like shadows appeared on onix as well, digesting it. Its trainer had to call it back before it immolated itself completely with Dragonbreath. The cloyster shot Spike Cannon at him from afar, yet he dodged them and moved close enough to finish it off with a Thunder Punch.

Kamon wasn’t the type to wait. A Future Sight hit not-Hiroki square. On the sky, a whole swarm of Future Sight waited for their turn on the sky, covering the small island like a dome of light sparks.

“They can hit through Protect and Detect, as well as Endure, in case you don’t know already.” Kamon said matter-of-factly, smug as an arbok.  
“Not if I end the battle against you here.” Was the reply.

Not-Hiroki aimed at Kamon’s Alakazam. Kamon switched out Gyarados. Not-Hiroki was undaunted. He sent a shockwave of energy towards Kamon. Gyarados tried to block, but it went through it, not only knocking out Gyarados, but also knocking out all Pokémon on Kamon’s belt.  
As Alakazam fainted, the Future Sight on the sky faded away like burst bubbles.

It was then that a pained expression emerged on not-Hiroki’s face. He nearly collapsed, but managed to support himself with the pool cue.

Kamon realised that the attack was made from unown from within the imposter-Hiroki, like a variation of Beat Up that not only hit the benched Pokémon, but all Pokémon that the trainer had... Or that the attacker knew the trainer had? He had to make sure.

“Ok, imposter, how many Pokémon of mine did you just knock out?”  
“Is that a trick question?” Not-Hiroki summoned barely enough strength to answer. “All of yours. All six. Alakazam, Crobat, Nidoking, Feraligatr, Gyarados, Weavile...” They he realised his mistake. Wasn’t there an Eevee too?  
Kamon tried his best to not laugh until he was sure. He pulled out another trainer’s belt, with five Poké Balls, from his coat’s pocket and looked into them. He smiled. Not-Hiroki was about to cry.

“Are you trying to kill me?” Not-Hiroki asked, with almost a whimper.  
“Of course I am. Didn’t you?” Kamon smiled like a garchomp. “Typhlosion! Scizor! Noctowl! Houndoom! Eevee! I choose you!”

The fake Hiroki wasn’t sure who was more sadistic now. But there was still hope. He looked at his maker. A spiritomb, sitting idly near a bunch of humans, watching how things will turn out. It was infuriating. A mother who just gave birth would feed the child. A builder who had just completed an artificial object would at least open some lights to admire his work, maybe give a smile of approval or scream in despair. Yet this being, this spiritomb who gave him existence, would not bother to do anything, merely wait to see how he would turn out. It wasn’t even testing him, as someone who wanted a Pokémon trainer would at least give the subject a starter Pokémon. It seemed to have lost interest in him, given up on him. It even let him emerge in an incomplete form, without enough flesh, blood, bones or soul.

It would make sense that if his maker wasn’t going to feed him, he was going to find that food somewhere. What else make better poetic justice than to eat said careless maker?

He went for it. Lyra sensed him coming and unsheathed her sword. Easy. Substitute. As the female Champion was struggling to remove the blade from unown-made skateboard, the spiritomb was caught and eaten whole. It didn’t even have time to react.

The once humanoid being that ate the forbidden Pokémon trembled. And mutated. It felt around for spirit to consume. The island was mostly free from spirit fragments by then, but there was something else in the sea. Something which’s trace was part of his ingredient. It was magnificent. A ruler, a king, a demi-god. Lugia’s presence. It was impossible for him to defeat and consume Lugia itself, but this presence... Traces of Lugia’s existence all over the place. It was enough to absorb to gain significant power and form.

The being that once looked like Hiroki began to take a new shape. Its arms became wings. Its legs grew powerful. Its neck grow long. It mouth became beaked at the tip and fangs sprouted. Its torso grow rounder and bigger. A tail grew out and grew caudal fins. Its entire body was dragon-like, a being that could rule both the sky and the sea. Yet it was not Lugia, not even in the shape. A different dragon. It was black with red and gold lines in curves that reminded of unown writing with sanskrit influence. It still wasn’t complete. It searched deeper and farther in the memory of the planet and found something. It mutated more. The lines on its body straightned. It only stopped when it ended up looking like a corrupted version of Lugia mixed with Zekrom.

It roared with emotions alien to most Pokémon. Its eyes spoke nothing but hunger and despair.

Lyra was worried. Ho-Oh, which she had not yet used in this event and thus kept ready for battle, tried to speak to her. Ethan felt it, and tried to tell her what the king of birds was trying to say. Lyra put a finger to his lips. She did not need him to tell her. She did not need Ho-Oh to tell her. She knew an obligatory fight when she saw one.

She closed her eyes, and let the water fell on her naked skin when Lugia emerged from the sea.

The King of the Sea felt the presence of a challenger in its territory. It was going to be Whirl Island event all over again, except this time the foolishness of two instead of many. But who cared about the numbers of causes? The damage was the same.

With both hands, Lyra let the King of the Sky out.

It was going to be a three way battle.


	5. and Epilogue

**Part 5**

 _The battle need not to happen._

Ninetales, hundreds of them, rushed to the island. They walked out from the graveyard, using the veil of tombs as pathways only ghosts and foxes knew. Their leader had the fur of silver, the tip of its tails the blue of ghost fire. Followed immediately behind was a vulpix with fur of gold. The real Hiroki.

 _The Moon is visible. The silver Ninetales told Hiroki. Child of men, you can take your other form now._

 _Thank you, gr- I mean elder._

The golden vulpix stood up on its hind legs. Its body stretched until it was about the size of a short young man. Then the skin peels away, revealing human skin underneath.

“Hey everybody. Missed me?” He grinned at the humans.

Lyra, Ethan and Kamon were blushing red as Silver’s hair. The girl trainer with onix screamed and buried her face in her boyfriend’s chest. Silver was busy wondering why Ethan was blushing. Morty and Eusine didn’t care, only waved at him welcome back. Kamon, however, refused to ignore the metaphorical tyranitar in the room.

“Hiro, you massive idiot! You’re supposed to wear something in public!”  
“But I am! Look, genuine vulpix fur!”  
“That’s a two square feet big fur that you’re wearing on the shoulders and nothing else! You’re not suppose to show your private areas to females that aren’t your wife, especially if they are someone else’s girlfriend, and the Champion of Johto herself!”  
“Come on, Lyra’s no less naked herself.”  
“That’s beside the point!”  
“I refuse to bend to double standard!”  
“She isn’t willingly naked! She used up her clothes in Substitute!”  
“And I am not willingly naked either! I couldn’t buy clothes as a vulpix, and if I did they wouldn’t fit me as of now! My old clothes were of when I was ten years old and Cal borrowed them to meet Kris some years ago! You know, him and the Unown and the Suicune thing.”  
“You didn’t fight Lugia naked I hope?”  
“No! Cal borrowed my clothes after that! It was not like they were useful to me after that.”

Kamon had to fight the urge to either kill Hiroki or facepalm himself so hard he’d faint and not remember anything.

Lugia, unwilling to listen to Ninetales and Ho-Oh, sent a pulse of water mixed with air at the pseudolugia. The attack was deflected with ease, falling below on the unfortunate trainers.

“Careful!” Hiroki immediately resumed his vulpix form and sent a Flamethrower at the water above them with intend to evaporate it. Sadly, reality ensued: instead, the fire merely heated the water, making it boil, burning them instead of merely splashing them.

“What the heck! Hiroki!”  
“Sorry, still not good at it!”  
Kamon looked like if he wanted to eat Hiroki alive. Instead, he controled himself and turned to his Typhlosion, who was once Hiroki’s Typhlosion. “Typhlosion! You show him how it works!”

When the next splash of water arrived, Typhlosion lit its fur and breathed out a pillar of flame not unlike an erupting volcano. All water near it was turned into steam and carried away by the wind. It then shook its fur in a cool way much like his trainer used to.

“Show off!” Hiroki snorted.  
“Hey, it learned that from you.”  
“So not. You were the one with beautiful hair and all that. Good thing you stopped wearing the shirt that looked like a one-piece dress. And those hideous boots.”  
“Hideous boots? Your shoes looked like some toys for kindergardeners. And that ugly backpack that looked like some cheap thing only the poor and the uncreative would wear. Your little brother had better fashion sense than you.”  
“Hey! At least that backpack put weight on both shoulders equally. Hibiki is going to get crooked shoulders with his.”  
“But yours didn’t have cushion on the straps and would just cut the blood circulation, not mention the pain.”  
“Gentlemen!” Brendan interrupted. “While I am very happy that other people share the passion of fashion, it is not the time for this.”  
“Anyway, I’m still better because I survived Lugia, can turn into a vulpix and breath fire.”  
“And if you give me a box of scraps I can make you a mobile suit. Give me enough supplies and a handicap and I can turn myself into a cyborg. Do not underestimate someone who went to school and graduated with top grades, you hobo.” Kamon retorted.  
“Just stop it, would you? And Kamon, you should be ashamed to be a closet Coordinator. Really, your bickering just outed you.” Brendan felt necessary to intervene again.  
“Heh. Knowing Kamon, he’d rather be labelled as a homosexual or transexual than a metrosexual Coordinator. Isn’t that right, Kamkam?”  
“Just stop Lugia and your impostor already!”

Ethan felt the strange being’s aura. It was strange. There was the spiritomb trapped inside with its own aura. There was the being around it, its aura not only absorbing, but synchronising with the spiritomb’s. Was it possible that because the being’s aura was not stable, it was trying to fully copy a lifeform and stabilise so it could live? Like how all came from Mew, yet beside ditto, most evolved into a more specialised form that no longer transformed. Ditto itself was specialised in a way: transform. And no longer learned moves outside transformation. This being was like mew. It knew many moves, could eat anything and could take any form that it knew, yet was not specialised, not defined. True, Mew was powerful, but it was not that biologically successful. It was rare to the point of near extinction and no desire to reproduce. It had relatively long life, but was not immortal. Both individuals and the race had trouble continuing their existence. It was possible that the being wanted to achieve stability and definiteness in a powerful and continuable existence.

It ate spiritomb. Spiritomb had no type disadvantage. Biological processes were often independent from conscious control.

Continuation of an identity, of a piece of information had two popular methods: survival of the individual and survival of the race.

Perhaps the being was trying to give birth to a more stable form of itself.

Perhaps, like a virus, the being was copying itself.

Either way, the spiritomb was the key.

“Guys?” Ethan called his friends. “I think I know how to stop it.”

And he explained his theory. It sounded plausible.

“But Lugia?” Eusine asked.  
Silver readied a Poké Ball, finally repaired. “I’ll bet on that.”  
Lyra gave Silver a nod of approval. It was about time that her rival acted more like a rival. If he had Lugia, they would be a perfect pair of rivals. Nothing made a man, or woman, stronger than a good rival who kept up all the time. “I believe I don’t need to wish you good luck.”  
Silver laughed. “Oh yes I’ll need it. But whatever.”  
“Heh. Cheating on me with Green didn’t you?” Lyra joked, noticing the verbal tic from Green.  
“It’s training.” Silver said. And headed to Lugia.

“The other one...” Brendan risked.  
“Kamon and I will do it.” Hiroki confirmed, trying to drag Kamon close like good buddies did, but the rival simply dodged and glared at him.

Lyra pointed a sword at the mutated homunculus before them. The Ho-Oh was perched on her free arm, weightless, graceful. Kamon and Hiroki waited by her sides, awaiting orders.

Behind them, Sou, Ethan and Brendan stood before Lugia in a similar formation. The ninetales elder stood by Silver’s side, its ghostly gray fur glowing dimly. Two skitty were by Brendan’s sides, ready to sing a lullaby to the king of the sea. Ethan dared not let his Marill out, so he stood there alone.

Morty, Eusine, banette and ninetales stood in a line between the two teams.

When the two dragon shape beings roared in declaration of war, the battle started.

“Mismagius! Gengar!” Sou screamed. “I now undo the bind on you. Fight with your full power!”  
“Ho-Oh. You have your power restrained long enough. Today I need your full power, so be free, and let us fight together as equals!”

They took their empty Poké Balls and smashed them. To keep the control of trainer over them, the ghosts tied a thread of their spirit to Sou’s, as Lyra used a staff with golden bells. Mismagius went first. A Thunder attack hit Lugia in the vitals, getting its attention. The great sea dragon, furious, returned the attack with an Aeroblast. Mismagius vanished like mist as it was hit, only to reappear on Sou’s arm. It was but an illusion of Double Team.

“Lugia!” Sou told the king of the sea. “I challenge you to a battle. If I win, you will be mine. If you win, I will heal you and one of these two will challenge you under the same conditions. Do you agree?”

The dragon looked at the boy, then look at the king of sky and the strange intruder. Ho-Oh beat its wings. A mystical fire of great intensity rose from its feathers and went towards the homunculus like a wave towards the land.

Seeing its enemy becoming Ho-Oh’s prey, Lugia turned to Sou. Mismagius fought Lugia as if the sea dragon was not a lengendary, but a mere Pokémon met in a stadium.

“Lugia. This mismagius was found in a forgotten shrine on Mt. Silver as a misdreavus. It told me of how people used to live there, but left when cities where built on flat lands and judged that living there was preferable to living on the mountains, praying daily for water and food. For under a century, it sat in the abandoned shrine, waiting for the humans to come back. It didn’t know that the entire upper half of the mountain was sealed off because of Pokémon that grew too strong.  
“Finally, a boy with six Pokémon climbed the mountain. He was Red, the Legend of Kanto. His most important person had left home to find a new dream. Red never had a dream. As a child, he was content to live in a small town with his his neighbor, the grandson of a trainer-turned-professor, as his best friend. They liked each other. Until the day the professor decided that Red was the better of the two. Because Red was timid and humble, while the other was self-centred and arrogant, and willing to do anything to get what he wanted, even if it hurt others in the process. The friend, whose name was Green, became then jealous of his best friend. He was a pretty good child himself. He liked Pokémon. He wanted to work with them. He thought he’d be a good successor. Yet his own grandfather decided that Red was better. Red wasn’t even interested. Red was, up to that point, was only interested in Green. He felt complete near Green. Red didn’t know how to communicate people, didn’t like school, barely knew how to read... but Green was good at all of that. Red felt that as long as he stayed near Green, he would be safe. That everything would be well. He would have spent his entire life in that town, playing and competing with Green, and he would be satisfied.  
“But Green didn’t want to play with him anymore. Green wanted to win his grandfather’s love back. He didn’t care about other townsfolk, but his grandfather... was the only parental figure he had left beside his older sister. He didn’t understand why his own grandfather would neglect his biological grandson to dote on a boy that wasn’t related to the family. He didn’t understand why his grandfather neglected him to the point of occasionally forgetting his name, his own grandson’s name, but never forgot Red’s. And Red was the closest to a best friend he had too. He didn’t understand why Red, someone he liked, would steal what he cared about the most. He knew Red didn’t mean it, but he still couldn’t forgive him. He wanted to show his grandfather, and everyone else, that he was the superior one of the two. So he had a dream: beat the Pokémon League and become the Champion. He got a trainer license and was about to start his journey to be the strongest person in the world. His grandfather was even ready to give him a Pokémon. Green thought his grandfather would be proud of him.  
“Then Red said he wanted to became a Pokémon trainer too. Suddenly, the Pokémon meant for Green became the Pokémon meant for Red. Prof. Oak was giving his rare Pokémon, one that he said he would give to Green, to Red instead, and give him another one later. He couldn’t forgive this. He pushed Red away and grabbed the Pokéball, refusing to let go. He could hear his grandfather being disappointed in him, but it didn’t matter. It was his Pokémon. It was meant to be his.  
“Red got another Pokémon. They raced to the League, Green always a step ahead, yet Red always caught up. And every time, Red defeated Green’s team. Red never lost a battle back then. In everybody’s eyes, Red was this child prodigy trainer who was prefect. He was brave, he was invincible in Pokémon battle, great at bicyle riding and hiking, kind to everyone, etc. etc. He was a legend.  
“Red knew he wasn’t. He didn’t know how to express his feelings beside with a battle. He was not perfect. He had once stole a Pokémon, an eevee on the table of a rooftop room. It reminded him of Green.  
“Eventually, Red caught up to Green in the Indigo League by stealing the title of Champion from Green. Only minutes after Green received the title and called his grandfather. When the professor arrived, Green was no longer a Champion. He was once again disappointed in his own grandson and praised Red as if he was his real grandson. Green was almost suicidal after this.  
“Red, worried, chased after Green. This time, he no longer used Pokémon battle as language. He tried to use words the way ordinary humans would. He was not good at it at first, but he progressed. Eventually, Green opened his heart to Red on the beach of a tiny island. There, they parted ways until they have dreams again. Green walked the land until he was forced to settle down as a Gym Leader, for he was running out of trainer’s money and had to make a living.  
“Red felt regret from tearing his best friend’s life apart. He went to Mt. Silver and settled there, eating whatever he could find and used Charizard’s fire to stay warm. He lived in a cave like a primitive barbarian. He fought any challenger that found him, and only one ever defeated him. He was afraid that if he went back, Green’s life would be upside down again. He still called Green occasionally, and smiled to himself when Green’s voice was full of joy. The self-imposed exile lasted for years.  
“...You and Ho-Oh are a bit like them, aren’t you?”

Lugia paused at these words. Mismagius gave it time. Behind them, Mareep, Ethan’s ampharos, blocked a Shockwave with Light Screen.

“You and Ho-Oh used to live in a small town. There were two tall towers there and each of you picked one and made nest there. You saw each other every day and were good friends. One day the townsfolk argued over which one of you were the better one. Ho-Oh was prettier than you and had the power of fire, which was much valued by humans, so they said it was Ho-Oh. After all, you were just a powerful beast. Ho-Oh had more colours on its feathers, could lit fires that would not burn out and produce sacred ash that healed all wounds and ailments. And while majestic and powerful, it was humble. You, on the other hand, was a show-off, arrogant, self-centred and violent. Ho-Oh rewards his followers, while you only punished those you disliked. Ho-Oh liked to intervene when it saw trouble, but you only intervened when it was in your territory.  
“You still had your fanclub. You knew Rain Dance. You knew where the fish were. You could guide boats away from hidden rocks. But as humans became more independent, your influence became redundant. They had other Pokémon to perform Rain Dance for them. They had invented maps and lighthouses. They had fish radar. And while beautiful, you wasn’t that pretty. Ho-Oh, on the other hand, was still valued for its sacred ash and sacred fire. Ho-Oh was a symbol of royalty. The Johto League’s fire was Ho-Oh fire. Yet you were only mentioned in some tribal ceremonies on few coastal towns.  
“You didn’t understand why they still valued Ho-Oh when they had medicines that could replace sacred ash and other means to lit a fire, or why they didn’t still value you when you had helped them in the past as well. Your tower remained plain while Ho-Oh became decorated with bells and carvings, and surrounded by a forest of gold. Enraged at the unfairness, you summoned a thunderstorm and burned down the Brass Tower. Three nameless Pokémon died in the fire and you didn’t even care. Ho-Oh resurrected them and left Tin Tower, partly because it was disappointed in vanity of humankind, who had judged you two based on looks rather than your hearts, partly because it was worried about you.  
“You made your new nest in the Whirlpool Islands, away from the mainland. Yet mankind started a war there, a stupid, greedy, dispute over who should be master of how many yards of land and sea, completely ignoring the fact that someone, you, already took it as your territory and only saw you as a big slab of meat when you appeared before them to tell them off. True to your impossibly straightforward, violent nature, you tore that island in four islands and few debris.  
“Then you hid in the sea, waiting for a day when world can be a better place, more fair and peaceful than the one you knew.  
“I am Soul ‘Silver’ Giovanni. I dream of strength from the spirit that will unite mankind and Pokémon alike. Please, join me. I will not bring peace through reign of terror. Instead, I will use myself as model to those who come after. I believe the fire of my spirit can light the world as the heart of Lyra, Ho-Oh’s human, can bring order to the world.  
“Mismagius, return! Feraligatr, show Lugia the fire of our spirit! Return Favor!”

Following that attack, Sou threw a Heal Ball at Lugia. It closed around the legendary, dropped in Sou’s hand and shook once. And it stabilised.

“Thanks. Now come out!”

And once again, he crushed the empty Poké Ball to free Lugia’s power.

“Nice timing, Soul.” Lyra said. “I’m having trouble cutting open this abomination. And no amount of burning can open that thing, just barbecue it.”  
“Ready for a combo attack?” Sou winked at her.  
“You mean ready for Hollywood style massive explosion? Hell ya.”

Lugia shoot a jet of compressed air at the artificial being. A fraction of second after, Ho-Oh lit the air attack with fire, creating an explosion where it hit. It was more impressive than they thought it would be.

The spiritomb was visible.

“Wait, but it was still belonging to a trainer and we don’t have the Poké Ball, how can we...?” Brendan remembered.  
“Don’t worry about it.” Kamon showed them what he was working on when they were battling. “This should do the trick. Lyra! Kick it!”  
He threw the modified Poké Ball at Lyra, who kicked it as hard as possible, right into the wound caused by the explosion. The Repeat Ball closed around the old spiritomb. It shook three times. Then the light faded and the Ball fell out of the being, rolling slowly towards Kamon. The young man picked it up. Shaper was inside, peaceful.

‘Hiroki’ went out of control. Without solid souls to bind the body in one piece, it started to rot. All the time that was never his tore away from him.

His eyes were no longer there. The eyelids were limp over the black holes his eyes once were, like curtains. Blood trailed down, mixed with tears and something gelatinous. His mouth was empty as well, as if his tongue rot away long ago. The last words from his mouth were not sound, but unown.

All the extra flesh peeled off and floated away as unown.

“Another spiritomb is... inside it?” Ethan noticed.  
“It’s how they are born. That’s why they are the forbidden Pokémon. When a spell merged souls, or fragments of them, spiritomb are created.” Eusine informed.  
“The homunculus created by Hiroki’s spiritomb acted as some kind of factory that distilled the fragments of souls in this area.” Morty added. “The tracing process did not turn the homunculus into a spiritomb, but created a new spiritomb inside it, independent from the original and the homunculus’s spirit. It’s a newborn. Hiroki’s spiritomb must have done it subconsciously, driven by the universal mortal’s desire to create offspring.”

The being was in humanoid shape again. More of a corpse than living thing, some kind of zombie humanoid uterus holding a life inside it, but itself possessing only a mockery of life. His arms were feet behind him, on the ground, broken as if made of glass. Black blood spilled from it and formed miniature streams. The blood had white eyes with tiny black dot in them. Some of them merged to form unowns and floated up. When he was finally standing before Kamon, his body started to fall apart further, piece by piece, with more blood oozing and gushing out from the wounds. This time there was red in the blood. Black, brown and red, as if they were from different times. When all the flesh and blood and unowns fell out, he was an armless skeleton, the inner organs still in their membranes, descending from gravity like a grotesque hourglass.

"Little one." Kamon called out to the spiritomb inside.

The membranes broke as if pierced by a needle. The organs dropped on the ground and turned into dust. The bones cracked and the bone marrow exploded like organic fireworks. On each of the bone shard was the marking of one unown.

Except the skull.

The skull was clean. It fell towards Kamon, who extended hands to catch it. It landed right between Kamon’s hands. He held it up to eye level so it was as if they were face to face, carefully, as if it was an egg as if in the time it took for him to blink, Hiroki would evolve from the egg in a burst of light. A crack formed in the middle and the eye sockets lit up.

And, in a flash of light, the skull hatched into a spiritomb.

“Welcome to the world, little thing.” Kamon said in an uncharacteristic tenderness.

Mama. Papa. The being tried to say.

Something happened in the unown. They stopped moving. And fell down.

It rained unown at Whirl Islands.

Then it hailed unown. Inactive unown became grey stone blocks with symbols seemly carved into them. At first they only became blocks when they were already on the ground. Then they started to solidify midway in their fall. About nine minutes into this unusual weather they became stone while they were still high in the air. It was as if the sky itself was breaking apart and falling down onto them.  
The noise was like that of a heavy rain, not much different from the one at the beginning of their summer trip. And just like back then, the group ducked for cover and waited for it to pass. Men could only do so much when it came to weather.

When the silence came back, the light did as well. The sun was setting. The sky was burned bright red and the clouds, dark red with golden rims. The well-travelled trainers remembered its meaning.

Red sky at night, sailor's delight,  
Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.

It would be a dry day next morning. They had only lost two days of their summer. After a night and a day’s sleep, they would be back on their feet. And life would continue.

In a flurry of gold and fire, Hiroki dashed deep into the island, out of his friends’ sight. Kamon, the baby spiritomb now in his bag, chased after him. Ethan tried to chase after his brother too, but was stopped by Lyra and Sou.

“Let the couple have their moment, will you?”  
“Let’s go back. My cousin can take care of the trip back when they are done. No need to wait for them.”

So the couple was left alone on the island.

Kamon found Hiroki standing before a tombstone in the middle of a graveyard. The tombstones were old, covered in lichens and climbing plants. It was the place of ninetales in the memory. Hiroki was sitting on a tombstone before the statue of Lugia, in a way that if the statue was still there, the wings would be seen from either sides of him, framing him like an angel. Yet it wasn’t. The broken wings lay on the ground around the pedestal, where green leaves and white flowers covered them like blankets.

Kamon's fingers simply passed through Hiro's image. Another illusion. When he moved his fingers, the image was brushed into wisps of vortexes. Like smoke.

"I'm here." Hiroki's voice said.

Kamon followed the voice. He walked through the image, now shapeless wisps of colours that curled in the wind. It was as if a veil of smoke was lifted aside and inside, a golden vulpix whose mouth breathed out colours, sitting atop the eroded marble tombstone.

"Are you another one of Hiro's Pokémon?" Kamon asked.  
"No," it answered, "I am Hiroki 'Gold' of New Bark Town. Spiritomb's nightmares and delusions were not all wrong. I was mauled to near death by Lugia. I was found by a group of ninetales, its leader with coat silver instead of warm cream. It did not know how to heal a human, thus it transformed me into a child of its kind. If certain requirements are met, it told me, I can become human again. Or at least, as close to human as possible.  
"'What if you are another Pokémon with delusion of being its trainer?' You might want to ask. To tell the truth, I cannot be sure myself. But you do have my old Pokédex, I assume? Scan me with it. If it does not recognise me, well, treat me as a Pokémon if you like. Catch me in a Poké Ball. Send me to battles." Facing Hiroki's Pokédex, it smiled through its eyes, added: "If I am Hiroki, however, do not forget me that you owe me a lunch at Olivine Café."

The Pokédex stayed confused for a moment, but concluded: HIROKI. TRAINER FROM NEW BARK TOWN. STUDENT AND ASSISTANT OF PROF. ELM. AGE: [CONFLICTING DATA] 21 FROM CALCULATION, BODY AGE DATA [7] CONFLICTING WITH RECORD. TRAINER ID NUMBER: [LICENSE EXPIRED].

"I was scared for a sec. Buy me lunch?"

To make sure it was not a mistake, Kamon scanned the fox Pokémon from different angles. He even touched and lifted it up to make sure it was not another illusion. Still not convinced, he scanned the spiritomb as well.

SPIRITOMB. THE FORBIDDEN POKEMON. IT WAS FORMED BY UNITING 108 SPIRITS. IT HAS BEEN BOUND TO THE ODD KEYSTONE TO KEEP IT FROM DOING ANY MISCHIEF.

He tried other Pokémon. He even tested on some of Hiroki's items. Only the vulpix was identified as Hiroki. Still, he did not believe.

"Alright." He said to the fox. "If you are Hiroki, how did we meet?"  
"You were hurt after a battle and I bandaged your wounds."  
"Which organisation was I part of?"  
"Team Rocket. Family tradition, it was."  
"Favourite food?"  
"Cinnabar Volcano Burger. Do you have one right now? I'm hungry."  
"The person you mention most often in your private diary?"  
Silence. The vulpix's gold fur became ember red. "Y-you read my diary?" was what came out at last.  
"No, but I am going to in order to check your answer. Sorry, but I have to make sure that you're not just mind reading."  
The vulpix was not sure to feel relieved or even more stressed. It entered deep thought for a while before saying: "Myself. It's a diary, of course the person I mention the most is myself."  
"Good. I guess that means you pass."  
The vulpix was panicking. "I thought you said you didn't read it!" It barked, fur all red.  
"I didn't. I just assumed that a narcissistic megalomaniac like you cannot possibly mention anyone else more than yourself. I guess you weren't mind reading at all. Now one more question... Am I a man or a woman?"  
"Man of course. You PMS as much as a woman though. Maybe you’re actually a woman? That would explain a lot. Or you could still be a man. Really, you should ea-"

Kamon sent the vulpix flying with a roundhouse kick.

"You're such an idiot! I thought you knew! Even as a Pokémon you can't sniff it out? You are such a failure! I'm leaving you! Alone! With your Pokémon I mean! Good luck finding a way out, you fire-type with charcoal for brain! Eat rattatas for rest of your life, idiot!"

Well, at least that meant Kamon accepted that Hiroki was still alive, albeit as a vulpix. Relationship with a tsundere was like that. Hiroki shook its fur, removing dust and broken grass blades that had stuck on him. Maybe it was because he was now a small Pokémon, Kamon's kick really got stronger. Still, the boy ran as slow as ever, no wonder he always got caught in a chase and needed assistance to escape. This time would not be an exception. Hiroki arched its body, aimed and dashed at his childhood rival. He felt as if he had been doing this forever, even after seven years of separation, even if whenever they had a Pokémon battle, Kamon was always the one losing. Even if Hiroki beat Kamon at everything, somehow, he felt that Kamon was always ahead of him, in something invisible but important. Only few meters between their body now. This time, Hiroki felt, he was doing it right. Five meters. They would become friends again. Four meters. They would be partners. Three meters. They would tell each other tales of their life; the parts that the other missed. Two meters. They would eat on the same table, every day and the day after, till no one could tell who was who. One meter. Hiroki closed their distance in a leap. He wished he still had his human arms, so he could embrace his love, lift him off the ground and held him to the sun so it looked like a halo behind his beautiful head. Instead, the small ball of golden fur landed on Kamon's reddish head, struggled for balance and stayed there until they found a boat home. They slept their way back, inside a cabin, the vulpix Hiroki in the bed next to Kamon. It was not a full moon that night, but a pretty crescent that shone like a silver cresselia feather. Hiroki, back in human form, pressed his naked body against Kamon’s. For the first time their body mingled together without intention to harm.

 

Part 6 - Epilogue

The destruction of Indigo Plateau League lead to the question of where to host the League as it was being repaired. Seeing this as a chance, Johto and Kanto divorced their League. Johto League moved to Silver City at foot of Mt. Silver, the location where the Silver Conference Tournament usually took place. Kanto League moved to the reconstructed Cinnabar City and, as celebration, would bring back the tradition of Cinnabar Conference Tournament. Lyra became the Champion of Johto League thanks to the Indigo League being temporary disbanded. To get a Champion for the Kanto League, Green dragged Red back to the League kicking and screaming, and after no amount of threatening and begging could change the legend’s mind, Green opted to become the Champion of Kanto himself. Red stayed as some kind of mascot. Sou was considered candidate for the now vacant Viridian Gym, but the boy refused the offer, preferring to stay as assistant-breeder in Ethan’s Daycare a little bit longer. Wally obtained the qualification, but could not stay because of city pollution worsening his health issues and he hurried back to Hoenn. A trained named Cal passed the qualification exam at first, but revealed to be not human and after a long debate over if it would be discrimination to refuse him, he suggested his ‘original’, Hiroki “Gold” of New Bark Town. It took a combined effort of Lyra, Red, Green, Ethan and Sou to kidnap the young man along with Kamon to Viridian. Because of Hiroki’s were-Pokémon status, Kamon took the function of gym leader during daytime and Hiroki did at night. Trainers were advised to approach the gym with caution, for an annoyed Kamon might throw Hiroki out anytime, for little to no reason, with great force, and being hit by a flying Hiroki thrown by Kamon was potentially fatal.

 

In Hoenn, things went much more smoothly. Brendan arrived home with May hand-in-hand. He noticed that a bag of hers was already in his house. She told him to sit down, it was on a cute skitty-patterned sofa he did sit, to close his eyes and guess what surprise she had for him. Cake, kiss and mail sets were not the right answer. Neither were new dress, plushies and a ring (he didn’t dare say marriage out loud). May called him silly and put something under his nose. The noises sounded like paper. It smelled like paper too, with stronger scent of fresh ink. A letter? No, it was not writing ink, but printing ink. May moved something else close to his ears. Sounds of metal against metal, with some plastic. From the side and shape deductible from the sounds, the second object was most likely a set of keys.

"You can open your eyes now." She said, her voice sweet and proud.

A certificate. Slateport... Gym certification? On the bow of the keys was the symbol of a badge he had never seen before.

"May! You did it! You are a gym leader now!"  
"Yes, I did it." She said and giggled at the same time, blurring the words a little. "Would you like to be my first challenger?"  
"Sure. I'd fight you all night long -- no innuendo intended."  
"Then let's go."  
"Wait!"  
"Eh?"  
"...would you like to live with me?"  
"Eh?"  
"You see, I'm an independent adult now. I have my own house now. It has two floors. And a balcony. Would you like to live in it?"

Brendan wasn't sure what he was saying anymore. Although he was brave enough to look May straight in the eyes, his face was redder than his shiny skitty. He thought he'd have more time to practice, that May wouldn't get her certificate before winter and he'd have time to decorate the new house a little and practice proposing over the phone with Ethan... but she got her certification while he was still in Kanto and in excitement he had asked her to live with him.

For a whole second, May stared at him, trying to digest what he just said. Brendan stared back the whole time.

"Sure, why not?" She said. "But first, let's check out the new gym."  
"Your gym."  
"My gym."

 

Somewhere, underground, Team Rocket welcomed the return of their leader Giovanni.

The most loyal executives told him of their new project. He was pleased.

Three shattered orbs, recovered from under the Indigo League building. A map to the location of long hidden Embedded Tower.

“Not only we have the Orbs, Gideon had sold us a 60-pages notebook full of living unown. They will be great resources.”  
“The Weather Trio of Kanto-Johto area will be ours. And with them, the world!”

 

-Fin-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: Wow, I finally finished this. I cut away plenty of scenes, so some parts might not make much sense anymore. In the original drafts May, Wally and Steven were meant to arrive for the final battle. There were more nightmare scenes, not only of Hibiki but also of Hiroki, Kamon and Shaper. The nightmares were meant to be plot points and hints to locations in an earlier draft, even used as a weapon by Hibiki at one point, but writing them all would make the word-count double so I didn't, keeping only one nightmare scene. There were also a lot of 'geographic lessons' planned, but in the end they were dropped. The result was an excess of dialogues and not enough non-dialogues to balance them out and provide further exploration in the universe. In general I can say this this fic is rather weak by my rating standards, but I'm still glad that I wrote it because 1) this is the longest story I have actually wrote instead of just outlined so far and 2) it helped me in measuring how many words and how much time are needed for what kind of scene so next time I'll be able to pace myself right and keep the word-count more controlled. And 3) know when self-hate and self-denial will kick in and try to finish writing before it does or just keep writing until it goes away.
> 
> I hope the readers will be able to enjoy this regardless.
> 
> Oh, and the very first draft was actually a happy-happy Brendan's summer trip in Johto in diary form + usual form. I don't know when or why the Cerberus Knight (is that the word?) kicked down the door and turned it into what we have now. Haha (nervous laugh).


	6. Extra

A bonus for readers who wanted more romance but was disappointed that there wasn’t enough in the fic (Warning: Kamon/Hiroki. Another warning is hidden in the title of the extra) :  
 **Extra - This is where a bridge was dropped on Hiroki.**

“Hiro.”  
“Yes, Kamon?”  
“Can’t you be a full human again? It’s kind of boring that you’re human only when it’s time to sleep.”  
“No, it’s more fun this way. I get to breath and eat fire if it pleases me, and Pokémon only let me go on dungeon exploration and rescue missions with them if I’m a Pokémon. Plus all the Pokémon-only exploration and rescue missions are on another planet, which Ninetales will teleport me to only if I’m still one of them. Did you know? I almost stayed there for rest of my life, but Ninetales reminded me that I had family and friends here. So I came back anyway.”

Kamon looked at Sou and Ethan’s website. They cooked food for each other, shared work at their daycare and got to wash each other’s hair before going to sleep. Like a freaking blissful old married couple. And when Lyra visited them, they got to do all of the above together. Were they a threesome? And they had a plan to have children too, since yesterday. Kamon’s older than them, yet stuck with a werevulpix that occasionally begged for head scratches (as vulpix), which he gave, and sex (as human), which he didn’t. Hiroki didn’t know anything romantic. They were not going to get married any time soon if they stayed that way. And of course, no plan to have children.

“Hiro.”  
“Yes?”  
“Would you turn back if I throw you against a wall or cut your head off?”

Hiroki felt a chill down his spine. He was living with a murderous evil engineer and while he wanted to get romantic with him, he was afraid he’d get neutered if he did. Beside, he didn’t want any of the mushy stuff. He just wanted them to have fun together. Like waking up Rayquaza and get chased by it together, escape its rage only narrowly before seeking refuge in Sootopolis. Then after a few days there fly out from the volcanic crater feeling like a rocket, then land somewhere near Lilycove, check out the famous Department Store there and participe in Pokémon Contest there. He knew Kamon had always wanted to participate in contests, avoiding it only because Coordinators were viewed as weak and vain. They could always enter under disguises. A full body armour could be cool.

“Hiro.”  
“What?”  
“Let’s have a bath together.”

That was a bit too much. A bath together? Sure he meant like a man with a man... But Hiroki became homosexual after developing feeling for Kamon, so no way they could have a bath without Hiroki sporting a rhydon horn.

“Um... How about no?”  
“Sou and Hibiki are doing it.” Kamon said, paying attention to use Ethan’s baby name.  
“They feel like brothers. Brothers do that. And lovers, but they must be more like brothers.” Hiroki said, making sure that he mentioned lovers in passing.  
“I want a baby.”

Okay, so Kamon meant more than a bath. Hiroki was not sure they could get one even if they did it. After all, they need a male and a female for that. Unless one of them was hermaphrodite. Vulpix and ninetales were once thought to be shapeshifting hermaphrodites, but Hiroki knew it was just a myth. He couldn’t just grow a vagina for Kamon.

“At least we could have some fun.” Kamon added.

So it was for recreative purpose too. It was not surprising. Kamon was old enough to feel the impulses. He didn’t seem to have a girlfriend or boyfriend so he must be quite needy.

“Actually. Get on the bed. Let’s do it now.” Kamon said, starting to undress. There was sarashi under his shirt.

That was way too much. Hiroki didn’t want that kind of fun yet. Before confirming their love, or lust, he wanted to do something fun more in the line of robbing a store, get chased by the police, then return all the goods the next day like ninjas and after printing a happy face on all of them. Sure he wanted to have sex with Kamon, but not that soon.

“Wait, wait, Kamon...” Hiroki said as Kamon pushed him on the bed. “I’m a bit afraid of the pain... Can we use some lubricant?”  
“Lubricant? We don’t need that.”

So it was going to be rough. Hiroki closed his eyes. He felt the sarashi falling on his chest.

“Open your eyes, coward.”

Wait, breasts? Curves? Kamon was completely naked on top of him and he looked much less like a man than when he was dressed. He looked like a beautiful woman. A fierce, somewhat muscular woman, but no doubt a woman. Hiroki looked between Kamon’s legs. 100% woman, unless he was actually a post-operation transsexual.

“I’m not going to let my younger cousin to have a child before me, so cooperate with me, will you?”

Okay, a cis woman then. So it was about competition between cousins. Not love or lust or all that. It wasn’t the way Hiroki wanted. As much as he didn’t want to admit, he loved Kamon. He didn’t want to be a mere sperm donor, to be send away once the child was conceived.

“And...” Kamon added, blushing this time. “If we get a child from this, will you marry me?”

Hiroki’s eyes widened. The order seemed wrong, but they were going to get married. And Kamon said it. That meant Hiroki didn’t need to do the mushy get-on-one-knee-hold-out-a-ring part. They could get married without all the mushy parts and still love each other.

Hiroki embraced Kamon. It was a good night, for their first time.

 

It turned out later that Kamon wasn’t ovulating around that time. They still managed to get Kamon pregnant a month before Lyra did with Sou’s child... Six years after their first try. Turned out Kamon didn’t want a marriage anyway, so they got a civil union. Ethan married Kris, the closest to Lyra without being Lyra or Red.

The most important part was that not only Kamon’s child was born before Sou’s, the child also was always a step ahead of Sou’s in their Pokémon journey. They were excellent rivals.

-Happy End-


End file.
